Ace Combat 5
by DemonArmegeddon
Summary: As tensions heat up Between the two Strangereal Superpowers It is up to one fighter squadron to bring peace to the world
1. Prologue

Disclaimer- I own nothing. I am changing some aspects of the story. I am going to try and keep this close to real world as possible so no unlimited missiles.

Prologue

Summary: September of 2000 a soldier by the name of Jeffery Loomis joins the Ustio Special Forces. Four years later upon hearing about the uprising in Usea Staff Sergeant(SSgt) Loomis goes to join the ISAF Special Forces to help with the war effort and runs into a family friend.

"Hey you ok?" Jeff asked the guy across from him as he sat down to eat some food.

"Yeah I'm ok. Just hoping by the end of this war Erusia and ISAF can learn to trust each other. Trust is vital to obtaining and maintaining peace among nations." The stranger said.

"My name Jeff Loomis. Pleased to meet you."

"Larry."

Jeff chuckled a little bit "I had an uncle named Larry. He wasn't really my uncle but a good friend of the family. I was told he died during the Belkan War. I miss him. He was the only person I could talk to if my parents made me mad."

Larry grinned a little bit and thought 'Yeah I missed you to little buddy. I miss your dad too.'

"Your dad still alive?" the old Ustio ace asked.

"Yeah he's still alive. He retired from the Ustio Air Force not too long ago." The SSgt said

"I guess after this is over I'm going to have to go visit him after the war is over."

"Why you say that?" Jeff asked with confusion in his voice.

"I'm your Uncle Larry Jeff."

Jeff was in total shock. He gave his uncle a hug and the two sat down and talked about everything. Larry told Jeff what happened during the Belkan War. Jeff forgave him and told him his dad missed him. After they were done reminiscing. They went to the briefing about the plan of attack on taking out the leaders of Farbanti.

September 2005: 118th Tactical Fighter Squadron Mobius along with the ISAF Special Forces take over Farbanti and ended the war. One week later Mobius 1 destroys the Megalith.

Earlier that year after being inspired by Mobius 1, The Demon Lord and his uncle Solo Wing Pixy Jeff heads back home to Ustio to train under Larry Foulke and his dad to become a fearsome fighter pilot.

Early 2006 Jeff asks to join Mobius Squadron. With already a full roster the young pilot was unable to join but flew under the tutelage of Brian Forrest aka Mobius 1 during Operation Katina.

Heirlark Air Force Base- September 2009

A plane lands at a small airport not too far from Heirlark. Jeff and other would-be new recruits saw a sign that said OADF on the side of bus and little by little people were filing in. Luckily for Jeff, he had already been through basic training. He just brought clothes, a duffle bag and some boots. 'To bad I can't use my old BDU's. Would make all this so much easier.' He thought, wishing he could have used his military record when signing up. He didn't want it getting out that he not only worked with but flew with Mobius 1. He also didn't want anyone to know that Larry Foulke was his IP and friend. As the bus had pulled away from the airport and started driving down the dank snowy highway, Jeff was starting wish he was back with Major General(MG) Brian Forrest. The man in charge of the legendary Mobius Squadron. He didn't realize how long he had been day dreaming till the bus came to a full stop. With a smile, Jeff muttered "And it begins." The doors open and three fearsome uniformed people came and started screaming yelling throwing the new OADF recruits off the bus. The instructors got everyone in formation and finally a tall man, about 6'0" with dark hair and soul piercing green eyes stepped up to the microphone.

"All right now you Nuggets! I don't give two shits who you are, who your Momma and Daddy are or what school you just graduated from. All I care about is teaching you how to effectively and efficiently fly in combat situations. Do you understand?!" the gruff instructor pilot by the name of Robert Johnson yelled.

"Sir Yes Sir" the cadets responded.

While all the other cadets where wondering what they have gotten themselves into Jeff remained calm.

'This is the easiest part of the job. Just like basic training.' He thought as he and the other cadets were told to drop and start doing push-ups. The instructors were telling them to do butterfly kicks, sit-ups pushups, you name it. The instructors job was to try and mentally break you. It was a way to weed out the ones who may not be able to handle the military life. A few weeks of non-stop physical training and the 200 plus cadets that signed up for the OADF only 100 remained. The next day the cadets were called into an auditorium. As they filled the seats, there was Capt. Johnson along with a woman with a black bird adorning his collar.

"Congratulations cadets. You have survived Hell Month. Look to your left and look to your right. The people you see in this room are not only going to be your training partners but eventually will be your squad mates. With myself, Capt. Danielle Smith call sign Loki and Capt. Steven Plasky call sign Mjolnir. We are going to be your IP's for your remainder of your stay here at Heirlark. Now I give the floor to the base commander Colonel Amanda Renolds."

"Good day cadets." She said loud but with encouragement "I would like to say that I am proud to be your commander during your stay. I hope that when you leave here you bring with you a sense of honor integrity and commitment to your ACM training and when you finally get assigned to your squadron. These next few months will be challenging and tough. Trust one another encourage each other and most of all look out for one another. Thank you."

After her speech, the cadets went back to their barracks room. Jeff laid on his bed smiled and couldn't wait to get in the air.

Heirlark Air Force Base- August 2010

"This is Blaze holding on runway 3." Jeff said

"Roger Blaze, this is Control Tower. You are cleared for take-off."

Blaze gave his F-4 some gas and started to gain speed. As he gained speed he pulled back on the stick and the nose of the plane started to lift in the air. He was finally airborne and was welcomed by the snowy white sky. He was waiting for his IP to get up in the air so they could do some dogfighting. 'I hope after all this I go someplace where its sunny. I'm tired of the snow'. Finally, he heard someone come over the radio.

"This is Loki preparing to do practice maneuvers with Cadet Loomis call sign "Blaze." She said coolly. She really wanted to see what the Spec Op soldier could do in a plane and get some payback. One day during practice maneuvers, Smith gave them a challenge. If they could shoot her down, the entire class would get a 2-day pass. Everyone tried but Jeff was the only one able to shoot her down. He kept telling everyone that it was luck and he just wanted to get the pass but that was a lie. He was trained by two legendary aces and that gave him an edge.

"Loki this Tower. You are cleared for practice maneuvers at 5000 feet. Good Luck."

'Oh Shit.' Jeff thought. 'This is going to suck.' Jeff had admiration for his instructor. She was informative and taught Jeff and his fellow cadets well. One day during training he opened a little bit too much and shown off some of his skills and ended winning a battle against his IP. The cadets were impressed. he had to lie and say it was beginner's luck but the other instructors weren't sure is he was a Golden Arm or hiding something.

"Good morning Capt. Ready to do this?" Jeff asked

"You bet your ass I am. I need to get some payback. I'm going to count us off. 3.2.1. FIGHTS ON."

They both threw their planes into a climb. Jeff trying to get is plane to lock his IP. Every time he would get close she would jink and start chasing him. They were reversing and rolling jinking left and right each one trying to get the radar lock. 'I wish I could just open up right now and just have some fun' Blaze thought. Finally, after a couple minutes of crushing g's and the highs and lows of adrenaline, Blaze finally backed off and went into the clouds. When Smith couldn't find him, Blaze appeared right behind rolling out of the clouds and having a good lock. 'Lose sight, lose fight.' Those famous words Pixy and Mobius 1 said to him stayed with after they showed him what happens.

"Knock it off" The code that meant to disengage. "Good job Blaze. You're going to make a good pilot. It was a pleasure training you." Capt. Smith Said

"Pleasure was mine ma'am." Blaze said as both planes were headed to the runway to land. A week had gone by after Jeff had passed his BCM exam as he was sitting in the auditorium with all the other graduating cadets. He looked around and saw his uncle and his friend Mobius 1.

"2nd Lieutenant Jeffery Loomis." The base commander called out. Jeff stood up and walked up to the podium. He saw his flight instructor and a blue velvet box with his new rank in it. As the Captain and Colonel pinned him they told him congratulations. He shook hands with both thanked them and then gave them a crisp salute. About 10 minutes had gone by and the final name was being called.

"Chloe Zimmerman." There was applause coming from the people in the auditorium. She was pinned and shook hands with her IP and base commander.

"Congratulations ladies and gentleman. I am proud to have been able to train with you. Thank you for your hard work and dedication and hope you will make the OADF proud. Dismissed"

"Finally," Jeff muttered. He was pushing his way through the crowds of people trying to get to his family.

"Good job man." Brain said

"Your family would be proud." Pixy added

"Was there any doubt I would fail. I had three of the greatest pilots train me so there was no way I could have possibly failed." Blaze said

"Ego Lieutenant." The ISAF ace said. Pilots were famous for their egos. The bigger their ego the likely hood of them getting shot down was high not to mention they were the ones to get other pilots killed.

"Yes sir. I'll keep that in mind." Blaze said.

"Hey Loomis you want to come party with us." A young woman said. He read the last name on her tag. 'Nagase' it read.

"No thanks I'm good but maybe later." Jeff said. He and his two guests started walking off.

The found a nice little restaurant not too far from the base. They all sat down and started catching up with one another. Talking about flying, family, you name it. After a couple hours, all 3 pilots went back to base. Once they finally made it back to the barracks it was time to say good bye.

"It was good seeing you guys." Jeff said giving his uncle and friend a hug.

"if you need anything don't hesitate call." Brian said. "and if you want to come back to Usea and join the 118th, I'll make some room."

"When you get some down time, come fly back home for a little bit." Pixy said

"I will guys, don't worry." Jeff said as he watched them both get in the car and take off. He started walking back to the barracks when the base commander stopped him.

"Good evening Lieutenant." Colonel Renolds said

Jeff turned around and snapped a crisp salute to the colonel.

"Evening ma'am. What do I owe the pleasure?"

She pulled out an envelope and handed it to him. Jeff opened it up and realized it was orders and where he was going to go to do ACM.

"Looks like your headed to Sand Island to go through Bartlett's boot camp." She said. "Oh, and I hope you enjoy the warm weather there." She added with a smile and a sarcastic tone.

"Looking forward to it ma'am." He snapped a crisp salute to the colonel and she gave one back. He went back to his room and began packing as he was getting shipped out in a couple days.

 **Glossary**

 **BCM-** Basic Combat Maneuvers. The basics of learning air combat. Every pilot must go through it.

 **ACM-** Air Combat Maneuvers. It teaches the pilots how to dog fight.

 **OADF-** Osean Air Defense Force

 **IP-** Instructor Pilot


	2. Chapter 1-The Beginning

Disclaimer-I own nothing

Last Time- Jeff 'Blaze' Loomis just graduated BCM and is being shipped to sand Island.

This Time- Command messes up, first aerial battle

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"Thank you, sir." Jeff said to the driver as he was getting off the bus in front of his new home. Sand Island Air Force Base was going to be his new home until he finished up ACM training. After Blaze unloaded all his stuff he saw the administration building. 'Well time to let them know I'm here' he thought. He opened the glass door and saw a man sitting at the desk.

"Excuse me Airman" noticing the rank on his shoulders only had two chevrons" I am lieutenant Jeff Loomis. I was wondering who I need to talk to go to in processing."

The airman looked at his paperwork and then started typing on his computer. "Sir you have already been processed through. You need to report to Captain Hamilton. His office is the third door on the left just pass the pictures."

Jeff thanked the airman and started walking toward the captain's office. He saw pictures of the Osean Chain of Command and saw a picture of Captain Hamilton and the base commander Colonel Orson Perrault. 'Perrault looks like he's going to be tons of fun' Jeff thought adding in the pun because the base commander was real heavy set. He finally got to the door labeled Hamilton and knocked.

"Enter." Came a voice through the door. Jeff opened the door and saw a blonde hair man sitting down behind a mahogany desk. There were pictures of different aircraft along with a few awards that he has received during his tenure of service. The man turned to Jeff and the thing that struck Jeff the most was Hamilton's blue eyes. They were cool and calm but they seemed to be able to consider your soul. A voice finally cracked the silence. "What can I help you with lieutenant?"

"2nd Lieutenant Jeffery Loomis reporting to duty Sir."

"Ah, Lt. Loomis. We have been expecting you. I am Captain Hamilton the adjutant base commander. I will show where you will be staying. You have been assigned to Captain Bartlett. He is your commanding officer so you will report to him. Here is your room key to your barracks room. Now let's go meet your new CO."

Hamilton started walking and Jeff followed. The walked out the building. It was nice and warm outside. The wind was blowing and you could smell the ocean air. Both officers were walking past some hangers and finally came to one with two middle aged men in it.

"Captain Bartlett. This is your new pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Jeff Loomis. He needs someone to show him around. Lt. welcome to Sand Island." Jeff gave a salute to the captain and Hamilton returned it. Jeff turned to face Captain Bartlett his new CO. Jeff heard stories of Bartlett from his uncle. He was an amazing fighter pilot. He was there trying to gain air superiority with the allied forces over Area B7R aka the Round table as it was called during the Belkan War. It was the perfect air space for both Belka and the Coalition forces since it was in the perfect strategic location to launch counter offensives and intercept missions.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Captain Bartlett. Welcome to Sand Island. This man next to me is our mechanic. Goes by the name of Pops. You need something he will be able to help you. Any questions?"

"No Sir, just looking forward to going through your boot camp. Can't be the best unless I'm trained by the best." Jeff said

"I'm not the best. I give that title to The Demon Lord and Mobius 1 but I will train you to a fearsome pilot. Anyway, let's get you to your room and settled in. I wonder who is around. Ah there's someone."

Bartlett yelled" Chopper. I need you to show this new nugget around the base."

Chopper groaned "Ah man. I was about to go relax and listen to my rock and roll records. "Chopper sighed and said "come on let's go."

Jeff jogged over to his new squad mate. Jeff apologized for the inconvenience. Chopper said it was no big deal, he just had the knack of being at the right place at the wrong time. He told Jeff that this was his third tour today. Both pilots introduced themselves. Choppers real name turned out to be Alvin. Jeff chuckled a little bit and asked him if he ever been called chipmunk. Chopper rolled his eyes and told him all the time. They finally made it to his room. Chopper told him that his room was two doors down and if he needed anything let him know. Chopper gave Jeff directions to the dining facility in case he was hungry. Jeff thanked him and opened his room door. He saw his duffle bag along with his foot locker in his room. He sat down on his bed and took the lock off his locker. He started pulling out his clothes rolling them up and putting it in his drawers. he had a black case in his locker that he pulled out. He opened it and in it was a broken down M1 Carbine. A high-powered sniper rifle he used during the 2nd Continental War. 'I hope I never have to bail out behind enemy lines.' Blaze thought as he put the case in his flight bag. Blaze knew how to survive but doing it by yourself sucks. Jeff could remember how many times he had to get into position to provide over watch for his comrades. Being in a position by yourself and hoping nobody sneaks up behind you is nerve racking. After getting everything unpacked he decided he would head to the chow hall.

The chow hall was nice. Black and white tiled floor. Wooden chairs and tables and they even had booths. Jeff was in line and saw how good the food looked. Hamburgers looked like hamburgers. The meat looked fresh. Even the salads and desserts looked like they were all fresh. Jeff grabbed some chicken and some salad and sat in a corner. Jeff felt out of place in OADF. It wasn't because he couldn't engage people or have intelligent conversations. It boiled down to the fact some of the nuggets been in the OADF longer than he has and he went from sitting in the trenches to fighting in the air. It's also kind of hard when you already been to combat. He also didn't want people finding out that he knew Mobius 1, The Demon Lord and Solo Wing Pixy. It'll get better' he thought as he chopped up the chicken a dumped it in his salad. Out of nowhere a man approached him.

"With all the tasty food, here you are going to eat a salad? You on a diet?"

Jeff turned around and it was Chopper. Jeff laughed at him" I'm just trying to watch my girlish figure."

Chopper shook his head and sat down. They both started talking about training at Heirlark. Chopper told him he had Plasky as his IP. He said Plasky was like the evil teacher you tried to avoid in school. Plasky was strict stern and demanded damn near perfection from his cadets. Plasky of course understood that people are going to make mistakes but his way of teaching was to try and mitigate as many mistakes as possible and give his cadets a proper formant of what to do. Jeff said Smith was almost the same way with the exception that is you messed up, she made you survive out in the cold for a couple days and still make it to training on time. Both men got up dumped their trays in the garbage can and walked out the dining hall. The made it back to the barracks and Jeff told Chopper he was turning in for the night. As Jeff started to unwind he laid on his bed turned on a movie and went to sleep.

The next morning all the nuggets met in the crew room. Three people walked into the door one of them being Bartlett. All the pilots sat down.

"All right nuggets" Bartlett said "If your name is called go suit up and get in a plane. We are doing ACM today squad vs squad. All commands will be given by me or Captain Evan Waters call sign 'Baker' and Captain Amanda Samson Call sign 'Svenson'."

Bartlett started calling off names. Aero, Jive, Barney, Mustang, Cavalier, Edge. Jeff remembered one of the names being called. Kei Nagase call sign 'Edge'. He remembered her from Heirlark. She asked him to a party but he declined. As everyone starting filing out the room Jeff figured he would go to maintenance shop and check in with Pops. In addition to their normal duties all nuggets at Sand Island had to pick a secondary specialty. Jeff had picked mechanic.

"Afternoon Pops" Jeff said

"Hey, how you doing? You adjusting ok?" the balding middle aged man asked. He was working on one of the training planes. Jeff crawled underneath the engine and started helping Pops replace the parts. They were working on the Hawk for about an hour with Pops telling Jeff how each part fit and how it worked. Suddenly a call came down telling personnel to get Emergency Transports ready along with any medic that was available. Everybody was rushing to the tarmac. Out of the 9 planes that went up only three made it back. The number 7 was the first to land. It turned out to be Kei. The second plane that landed was Bartlett. The third and final plane was Baker. His engines were pillowing smoke and tail was severely damaged. As he was descending his engines lost power and his crashed and blew up into a raging fireball. Firetrucks and EMS crews went to put the fire out and check on the pilot. As Bartlett was walking to the hanger he turned around to Nagase

"You keep flying like that you're going to die real soon"

"I won't die sir" she responded in a soft solemn voice

"You sure about that? You look like you couldn't hurt a fly." Bartlett responded

All pilots were too told to go to the crew room. Bartlett went to go to Perrault's office to discuss what happened. Everyone was silent. No one not really saying much trying to comprehend what just happened. Nagase was sitting by herself. Jeff sat next to her "You ok?" Jeff asked. He knew it was a stupid question but it was a way to get someone who has been through a traumatic experience to open.

"I was so scared" she stated. "It was like a bad nightmare. I just remember dodging missiles and bullet fire just trying to stay alive." She going on about the experience to the point where Jeff thought she was going to cry.

"Calm down. Look its ok to be scared. My uncle has told me stories about his time in combat. He says it's natural to get scared. Just don't let it consume you and you'll be ok. Look if you need to talk I'll listen. Jeff said.

Nagase nodded. 'How is he so calm about all this. It's like he has already been through combat.' She thought. Bartlett walked in and sat down on a chair. He titled his head up to the ceiling. A couple minutes went by and sat up.

"All right nuggets listen up. Starting tomorrow you all are sitting alert. I know you don't like it but were short on pilots. Nagase"

"Sir" She responded softly

"Your flying number 2 on my wing. I need to keep my eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into" Bartlett said

"Chopper Blaze. You two are going up to. Figure out who is flying at the number and number 4 position. I don't care how you figure it out but let me know before 1900 hrs."

"Chopper can have the 3 spot. I'll take number 4." Jeff said giving Chopper a thumb up.

Bartlett nodded then told everyone to get some sleep. Jeff headed back to his room. He packed everything in his flight bag. He was feeling nervous. Of course, he's been to battle before. It's still scary knowing you got real ammunition and there is always that possibility you might not make it back. 'No use getting myself worked up. It's just like any other combat mission. Instead of a squad of soldiers I got a squad of airplanes.' Jeff thought to himself. It seemed like the minute he hit the pillow his alarm clack was going off so he could go to the briefing. He got into his flight suit and headed to the briefing room. Not too far behind was Nagase and Chopper. The Perrault Hamilton and an intelligence officer walked in.

Their mission was to intercept an SR-71 that was hit by a SAM from the defense network. Their mission was to intercept the plane and bring down to Sand Island so the security forces could secure and figure out what's going over in Yuktobania. After the briefing, all four pilots suited up and got ready to fly. Once all their preflight checks were done they taxied to the run way and took off. All four pilots where in the air and headed straight into the unknown.

As they were headed to intercept a voice came over the comms. Blaze listened with half a hear.

"Wardog Squadron this AWACS call sign Thunderhead. Unknown plane at your 12 o'clock. Altitude 5000 feet."

"Thunderhead Wardog 1 Rodger that. All right nuggets listen up. Stick with me and you will be just fine. Remember we are not supposed to fire on the aircraft is that understood?"

Jeff heard the order and flipped off the Master Arm switch. He could pull the trigger all day and nothing would happen

"Wardog 2 Rodger"

"Wardog 3 Rodger"

There was silence coming from Jeff. He was still day dreaming about the times he was training with Brian and Larry.

"Wardog 4 hello" Came a gruff voice "You awake back there? You better be marking our tail son."

Jeff shook himself out of his stupor clicked his mike "Yes sir. Still here and awake. Our six is clear."

"At least your confident" Bartlett responded

Jeff just shook his head. If they only knew who trained him. As Wardog got closer to the target Jeff had slipped over to Chopper's right side to make a fingertip formation. That way if something was to happen Jeff wouldn't accidently fire a missile into his IP. Knowing his IP Jeff wouldn't here the end of it. Chopper was giving a rather weak surrender request to lower his landing gear if the fleeing spy plane understood.

Jeff dropped his plane a little to see the planes underbelly. "Negative on the landing gear. I don't think they're going to surrender."

"Did you really expect them too" Bartlett asked

"No not really. I know I wouldn't" From all his time being a sniper he always made sure he had some sort of get away plane so he wouldn't get caught.

"Enemy aircraft bearing 280 altitude 6000. Hold fire till further orders." Thunderhead commanded

"Crossing the pond to fly cover for their spy plane. Now there's a pilot worth his wings." Bartlett said with a little admiration for the enemy.

Blaze's warning system started going off. Jeff and the rest of the Wardog flight got out of the way just in time as the sky was filled with sidewinders and tracer rounds.

"Hold your fire" Thunderhead commanded

Jeff was about to mouth off but Chopper beat him to it. "Oh, come on. Those aren't b blanks there shooting out there."

"I said weapons safe."

"Quit yacking and fire back" Bartlett yelled

"Rodger that Blaze engaging" Jeff had got one of the MiG-21's in view lined up the pipper and let out a volley of red death. He let out the call of 'Splash One 'to let the rest of the flight know that there were only three Migs left. Chopper was struggling trying to get the enemy fighter off his tail.

"Can someone get him off my tail?" Chopper screamed. Jeff rolled around and to help him out. The MiG was close to having a missile lock on his comrade.

'Shit. Hopefully you stay alive long enough for me to get to you.' Jeff thought. He was closing in on the MiG. Chopper panicking and scared of dying didn't realize Blaze was behind the enemy.

"Chopper Break!"

Chopper mad the break and Jeff got a missile lock. A loud thud gave from the ventral bay as the missile soared and nailed the target

"Blaze Scratch another one."

"Thanks man."

Blaze didn't respond. One of the enemy planes had flown up high when Jeff had to help Chopper. He lost sight of the plane and now he was being chased. The missile alarm was going off. Jeff rolled onto his back and let out countermeasures. Jeff then leveled out his plane and did a very poor loo. Now he was at his opponents 6 o'clock. He lined up the pipper and let the twin cannons come to life.

"That's three kills for Blaze" Edge said in amazement.

"I'm going to let you keep your nickname Kid "Bartlett said. Jeff just rolled his eyes at the remark. Edge broke in over the comms.

"Blaze got three kills" Edge exclaimed.

"And I only got one" the gruff flight lead said" If I'm not careful you'll end up making me look bad"

"That is highly unlikely. Your too stubborn to let me do it." Blaze chuckled. It wasn't completely out the realm of possibility considering who trained him.

"Well that's three on me and Edge. Thanks for saving my ass back there."

"Cut the chatter" forcefully interrupted "Return to base immediately and Captain Bartlett needs to report to the Colonel's office immediately."

A loud groan came over the mike from Bartlett. The banked right and started to head back to Sand Island.

Several Hours later Wardog that against orders fired upon the kills the Captain and Blaze got were wiped from record.

"Man, that's jacked up!" Chopper screamed in front of the empty hangers

"There is more to be a good pilot than getting kills. Besides, it's not the end of the world." Jeff stated calmly.

"You should be pissed man. Two kills man. Two kills from making ace." His loud mouth friend exclaimed.

"There hasn't been an ace since the war 15 years ago," The two men turned around and saw Edge coming behind them" Wouldn't it be nice to have that kind of recognition?"

"Not really" Jeff stated "I just want to fly and be really good at it."

"That makes sense. Anyway, I'm headed to get some food you guys want to join?" Nagase asked

"I'll go. What about you Jeff?"

"Nah. I think I'm good. I'm just chill out here enjoy some air then head to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The two left leaving Jeff alone with his thoughts. Looking out over the ocean. The setting sun had dyed the water blood orange. A gentle breeze was coming in cooling the warm air. He was thinking about his uncle, Brian and his friends in ISAF. He was wishing he was around people he didn't have to hide anything from like his military record.

"You'll go blind if you keep staring at the sun like that" Bartlett said with a small grin on his face

"How you doing this evening sir?" Jeff asked

"You know you are in big trouble?" Bartlett asked with a little bit of sarcasm

"what do you mean sir? As far as I know I haven't done anything." Jeff said with a puzzling look on his face. Aside from the skirmish earlier today what else could he have done.

"Your flying today." Bartlett elaborated, "You fought like a seasoned ace. I haven't seen skills like that except from the Demon Lord or Mobius 1."

"Really?" Jeff asked as the conversation was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

"You were amazing up there today," Bartlett nodding, "A nugget getting three kills in his first real engagement. You are going to go places. Just want to wish you luck when you leave here."

"Thank you, sir," Jeff replied snapping a salute. which Bartlett returned leaving Jeff to his thoughts and memories once more.


	3. Chapter 2- Being Forged Through War

Disclaimer-Own nothing, blah, blah blah,

Then- Blaze and crew had first real engagement of cape landers

Now- Bartlett goes missing and the Circum-pacific war starts

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Early the next morning there was a loud knock on his door. Blaze woke up to banging. He looked over at his clock gleamed 0545 in bright red. Finally getting enough strength to get moving, he got out of his bed, out on some pants and opened the door.

"Hey Jeff we got a briefing in 15 minutes." The person at the door was Edge. It looked like she had been up for a while since she had more energy than he did now.

"All right." He said. As he was turning to close the door, he stopped and called for Edge." Hey you know what's going on? We went briefed about anything yesterday."

"The mission just came down this morning," she said as she went to go get Chopper. Jeff turned on the light and started getting ready. After taking care of his personal hygiene, he zipped up his flight suit and headed to the door. He walked down the hall way and went to the briefing room. He saw Edge and Bartlett. The only person they were missing was Chopper. He told the two-good morning and sat down next to Edge. Both nuggets were talking to their captain about what the mission might be. After five minutes of talking, Chopper walked through the door with Perrault and the intel officer.

"All right, listen up people," the obese commanders voice nasally droned," A few flights of UAVs have flown over Sand Island. We have pinpointed their origin and they are coming from this ship." He used a laser pointer to highlight the enemy ship." Wardog, by any means, fires upon that ship. Is that understood Bartlett?" Jeff rolled his eyes. Perrault thought since he was the base commander, he didn't have to respect those serving under him. He always had some sort of dig on Bartlett.

"Yes sir."

"Good now get out there and get rid of those pests." The fat colonel saluted and the pilots walked out to their jets. Since command was concerned about another dog fight, Wardog was given F-15C Eagles with Bartlett remaining in his personal F-4.

Jeff climbed the ladder and sat in the cockpit with Pops handing him his helmet and helping him strap in

"Thanks Pops," Blaze said as he put on his helmet and hooked up his mask and suit to the oxygen.

"Good luck up their Kid," replied gently and with a smile, "come back in one piece."

"Always. Get some drinks later tonight?"

"Sounds like a plan." Pops grinned and descended the ladder. Jeff had flipped the switch to lower the canopy. With the canopy closed, he started flicking on switches that brought the machine to life.

"Wardog 1 to all planes," Bartlett's voice coming through his headset "Sound off"

"4,2,3." Came three rapid replies

All four planes taxied themselves on the runway, waiting for the tower to give them the green light to take off.

"Tower to Wardog flight. Cleared for takeoff."

The whining of the jets engines got louder as all four planes were gaining speed. They were up in the air getting in formation and heading out to their mission.

"Thunderhead this is Wardog checking in," Bartlett called

"Rodger Wardog. This is Thunderhead. Maintain current course to intercept the drones before returning to the ship."

"Copy that Thunderhead" Bartlett replied

As they were headed toward their destination, Jeff started scanning the skies. Looking for those white dots that were the famous Predators. They were good for close air support and recon but people were trying to say that we could use these as replacement pilots. Jeff thought that was bullshit. You can't replace an on-location pilot with a remote team. The Predators had their niche in the world of modern warfare but it couldn't replace human pilots.

"Tally-ho we got company," Bartlett crackled in Jeff's ear "Show me what you got Kid."

"Rodger that." Jeff pushed throttle forward and headed toward the drones. He got in range on one of the drones. He lined up his 20mm on the drone and sprayed him bullets. He wasn't going to waste valuable missiles on tinker toys. The drone blew up in a nice fireball and raked the second drone with a small burst. The second drone lost a won and went spiraling down in to ocean.

"Good shooting Blaze." Edge said enthusiastically "we graduated at the same time and your still way better than me."

"No joke Kid, you're a natural." Chopper added

"Instead of admiring me and what I can do we still got a lot more drones to take care of. Look at your radar." Jeff, in a monotone voice. He did appreciate his comrades praise but when it was go time, he liked to focus on the mission.

"Kid's right. The ship launched more than one Predator flight. "Bartlett said in his usual gruff tone.

"Mind if I take this one Kid?" Chopper asked with an excited tone in his voice. Jeff clicked the mike, a signal that meant he acknowledged. He banked his plane and let Chopper get so he could line his gun on the drone. The cannons came to life and destroyed the drone.

"He blew up good" Chopper exclaimed

"Sure did. Any weight the used for taking out the cockpit is used for fuel. They can stay up in the air a lot longer then we can so let's finish this up before we get to bingo fuel." Jeff said

A click came over the radio. The flights of drones were rapidly disappearing off the radar. One by one the drones either hit the ocean or blew up in the air.

"I'm glad there's no real pilots in these things. I don't think I'm ready to face real pilots." Edge said

"Me either." Chopper stated

"You guys did fine with the MiG's yesterday. Don't sell yourselves short." Bartlett told the two nuggets

"That's only because you had my back sir. "She replied "Blaze took out half the flight and saved Chopper from walking home."

"I just got lucky. It was a fluke. We are all doing good." Blaze replied.' I'm glad it wasn't a fluke.' He wanted to tell them about Operation Katina and the people who trained him. Then they only want to get close to me about who I know and not who I am.' I'll tell them when the time comes.'

As they were mopping up the remaining drones Thunderhead had come over the mike.

"Thunderhead to Wardog. We got leakers coming in from bearing 280 altitude 6000."

"Same attack axis as before?" Bartlett asked. Jeff could hear the puzzlement is his voice. Both pilots were wondering the same thing.

"280. Rodger same attack axis as before."

"How many planes do they have lined up at the border. We only got four on our side. Better abort. Wardog RTB now." Bartlett rolled his F-4 start heading back to Sand Island. Edge followed suit. Leaving Chopper and Blaze to catch up.

"Chopper we need to put a pep in our step. I really don't want to be here when those planes get here."

"What about the ship?" Chopper asked "Were not going to leave it, are we?"

"Kind of have no choice. "Jeff stated "Besides it wasn't in our orders so let's get out of here."

His tone having a sense of urgency both F-15s started to head back to Sand Island. Not realizing that Chopper had fallen behind till he heard frantic calls coming in on the radio.

"I can't make it. they're running me down. Can someone please help?" Jeff whipped his head around to check on his teammate. He did a hairpin turn lit the afterburners and started speeding toward the distressed pilot. Jeff's fingers danced on the HOTAS and lined up a AIM-!120 AMRAAM shot. The radar in his HUD started tracking the MiG.

"Hang on Chopper" Jeff said with confidence" I've got him locked."

"Take him out Kid" Bartlett commanded. Blaze pressed the fire button. The AMRAAM took off to the intended target as Blaze went to go lock onto another MiG that was trying to shoot down his teammate. The missile hit the intended target.

"Hey buddy how you doing? "Jeff asked he heard some static and finally a welcoming voice came over the radio.

"Could you cut that any closer?" Chopper screamed "Took you long enough. Thought I was going to be fish food."

"Don't spare the details. Did I get him or not"?

"Yeah you got him "Chopper replied "That guy had me locked up for what seemed like forever."

Jeff grinned. He knew the feeling. Every time he fired a bullet from his rifle time just seemed to slow down. One minute seemed like hours.

He heard an unusual accent over the radio. "Enemy squadron has commenced counter-attack." Jeff wondered where it came from then remembered the AWACS was transmitting enemy communications. A useful concept but it really depends on how much the enemy wants to talk. Jeff was dancing with another MiG. The pilot reversed and Jeff was right there with him. Jeff flipped a switch and went to gun mode. Finally lining the pipper on the plane he let the cannons come to life. He rattled the plane with holes.

"Blaze splash one" Came a monotone voice.

"You splashed an enemy fighter without permission to engage?!What were you thinking Wardog?" The AWACS said in a forceful demanding tone.

Edge shot down one of the two remaining MiG's along with Chopper. All enemy planes were shot down or destroyed.

"Picture clear." Thunderhead said

There was a puff of white smoke and missile alarms were going on.

"Missile" screamed Thunderhead. All four plane took off in different directions. The SAM got a lock on Edge. She turned left and right trying to evade the missile. Realizing she wasn't going to be able to shake it Bartlett cut in front of the missiles path and it started to follow him. Bartlett couldn't evade quick enough and nailed his plane in the thruster.

"Captain" Screamed Edge

"Hey! Save the waterworks. I'm just going to bail here. Make the call for the rescue chopper and my reserve plane ok? He said trying to get Edge to feel a little bit better about the situation. Bartlett pulled the ejection handle. The canopy of plane popped off and then his seat shot up in the air. Ten seconds later parachutes came out.

"Wardog 4 to Thunderhead. Heartbreak 1's ejection confirmed. Scramble rescue the rescue copters."

"Rodger rescue team is on their way. Refuel and Rearm and get back in the air immediately."

"But the rescue team isn't here yet" She exclaimed. Where the really going to abandon their flight lead?

"Leave that to the rescue team. The enemy has declared war upon us!" Thunder head ordered.

"Rodger that Thunderhead." Jeff replied candidly "Wardog flight RTB."

"Blaze. You don't expect us to leave him?" She cried taken aback by her comrade's cold demeanor.

'Seriously Kid. We just can't leave him. What the hell are you thinking?" Chopper yelled angrily.

"Shut the fuck up both of you." Slipping and showing his command prescience when he was in the Special Forces." There nothing we can do. We got our orders so quit your bitching and RTB." Two clicks came back meaning that they heard Blaze. They were too scared to talk to him on the way back to Sand Island.

A couple of hours later refueled and rearmed the Wardog Squadron was headed to St. Hewlett Port. Jeff had calmed down somewhat. He really didn't want to leave Bartlett till SAR showed up. He wasn't mad at the other two for how they were feeling. He was feeling just like they were. He didn't want to leave anyone behind. He was pissed at the higher-ups for not letting them do what they needed to do and kept the flight under a political ROE. They were closing in at St. Hewlett.

"Edge, you lead the formation." Thunderhead said.

"Negative" She responded solemnly "Blaze you lead the formation."

"Second Lieutenant Nagase follow your orders." Thunderhead yelled. Edge peeled up and put herself on Blaze's wing.

"Blaze is leading. Ill protect his six. And I'm not going to lose another flight lead."

"I'm going to stick to the trail position." Chopper stated. It was clear that the fighter pilot was not looking forward to another round of combat.

"Quit screwing around. This is war. The enemy will eat you alive." A F-14A Tomcat flew by being the source of the new ally." This is Snow. Call sign Swordsman. Give me a position."

"Wardog listen up" Jeff commanded." We need to make sure the the Kestrel makes out in one piece. Shoot at anything you deem a threat. Try and cover each other."

While giving orders, he was getting a lock on an A-6. A 'clunk 'came from a fighter and an AIM-9 chasing his target. The enemy plane turned into a ball of inferno. Jeff started scanning the skies looking for more targets. The other two found potential targets. Edge was on another A-6's tail while chopper was tangling with an F-4. Edge finally got a decent lock after a few seconds and let a missile loose. The missile hit the A-6. Chopper was struggling against the F-5. Every time Chopper would get a lock the Yuke pilot would jink and Chopper would have to the lock again.

"Dammit." The frustrated pilot yelled as his aiming solution was spoiled again. A little help please."

"Rodger I'm on my way." Jeff was headed toward Chopper. Edge had found another A-6 to shoot down. "Go high and ill scare him up to you." No point in taking Chopper's kill or wasting ammunition.

"You ready?"

"Rodger." The other pilot stated

Jeff switched to guns and with a squeeze of the trigger red tracers spewed out. Jeff fired to low on purpose to make the pilot go high. The spooked pilot went up and flew right into Chopper's sights.

"Chopper Fox Two." A missile flew from the Eagle and hit the F-5. The plane disappeared in the explosion.

"This is Blaze. Kill confirm. Nice shot." Jeff called as he reversed to check on Chopper's six.

"Hey Kid. I got him. Thanks man." Chopper said with excitement in his voice.

"No problem. We got more to deal with so keep your head on a swivel or you'll be fish food." Jeff said with a little bit of force. He knew what it was like to get a kill and be excited about it but during a battle you need to pay attention and don't let the excitement get to you. A faint gulp reached his ears.

"This is the Kestrel. We made it out of the port but we have a blockade in front of us."

"Wardog form up." Jeff ordered. A couple seconds and the other two pilots were in formation." We're going to provide air support and defense suppression."

"How are we going to take on a blockade? We're not exactly fitted for taking on ships." Edge questioned.

"Yeah Kid. What are we supposed to do?" Chopper chimed in.

Jeff smiled behind his mask. 'You guys got to pay attention to your surroundings.' One thing Jeff had always remembered in his time as a Spec Ops soldier was that you weren't the only one out there.

"Look around and tell me what you see." If his wingmen were confused about the question they didn't show it.

"We have an aircraft carrier. Looks like some F-18s on the flight deck." Edge said

"If I was a betting man I'm sure those F-18s have anti-ship missiles. We protect them from being shot and they destroy the ships."

"Nice plan." The other two pilots said in unison.

All three pilots dove as they were engaging one target or another. The AA bullets coming from the enemy fleet were passing their canopies. Each one ignoring the death threat as they were getting lock on their perspective target.

"Blaze Fox Three" He pulled the trigger and let one of the AMRAAMs fly. It left a hole of one of the ships. The ship started listing up in the air and the crew members were scrambling to get on the life boats. Wardog squadron was finally joined in the air by a couple flights of F-18s. As predicted the F-18's was taking out the enemy vessels while the rest of the planes took out the remining air forces. Jeff looked at his fuel. He was getting low.

"Wardog flight fuel check."

"Wardog 2. I have 5000 pounds."

"Wardog 3. I have 4500 pounds.

"And I have 5000 pounds. Wardog to Thunderhead. We are at bingo fuel. Permission to return to base?"

"Rodger Wardog RTB." Thunderhead replied

As the three planes rolled Chopper began counting

"1 2 3. 1.2 3. Count me up man we're all back safe. I can't wait to tell the captain."

Jeff couldn't help but smile. First time leading a formation and everyone was heading back home to Sand Island. They were feeling good about themselves. Their first real mission without an IP to look after them. On top of that everyone came home safe. That all changed the minute they stepped into the briefing room and Capt. Hamilton told them news

"What!?" Chopper yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Y-You can't be serious" Edge whimpered. She had a helpless look on her face like someone had just ran over her dog.

"Unfortunately, I am quite serious" Captain Hamilton said coldly. His tone matched his appearance. His OADF dress blue uniform worn with precision and piercing blue eyes to match. Not to mention the blonde hair that was cut to exact regulations. Jeff didn't want to see what he looked like pissed. Hamilton put Jeff on edge and he didn't know why.

"You should have let us stay and destroy the damn ship. Then we wouldn't be having this frickin problem." Chopper yelled

"Chopper enough." Blaze snapped. Everyone was shocked. The quiet easy going man didn't seem to get that angry "I don't like the situation any more than you do but that's just how it is."

"How can you be so damn cold?" Chopper asked standing right in front of Jeff's face.

"Lieutenant Davenport sit down now." Hamilton stated in a very cold demeanor. "We have other things to discuss."

Chopper sat back down. Hamilton continued to talk to Wardog" With Lieutenant Loomis' performance at St. Hewlett command has made him flight lead till Lieutenant Colonel Ford can come down from Oured." Hamilton rose from the chair along with the pilots and gave the captain a salute in which he returned.

"You going to explain." Chopper said icily continuing their earlier conversation. At least Chopper didn't look like he was going to hit him this time.

"Because I have to be" Jeff stated. For the first time the Spec Op soldier could be seen in his eyes. Chopper backed off a little bit because something in Blaze's eyes scared him. Jeff left the room and started walking down the hall like he had a purpose. Everyone thought he was in a bad mood but the people who knew him he was sorting things out in his head and blowing off steam. He really didn't open to anyone when he got here in Osea. Once the other two really got an awakening he would be more comfortable being more open with them.

He finally made it to his room a lot calmer than he was five minutes ago, He closed the door sat on his bed and looked around the room that he was given. He pulled a trunk out from under his bed. He opened the padlock. Inside the trunk was pictures and memorabilia from his team in Ustio and ISAF Special Forces. He pulled out a picture that had him his dad and his uncle Larry Foulke. He also had a picture with him and Mobius squadron when he helped them out during Operation Katina. He pulled out a binder that contained award certificates and medals. He looked through it and set it to the side. Finally, he pulled out a photo album. He was looking at the pictures of him when he was with Mobius Squadron his dad and Larry and the Ustio Special Forces.

There was a knock on the door that knocked him out of la la land. He scrambled to put everything back in the trunk. "Who is it?"

"Its Edge. Can I come in?"

After everything was put up "Come in" he replied.

"What's up Edge."

"I was just coming to check on you. You ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He replied

"The way you were talking to Chopper. It seemed like you've been to combat before." She stated

"Look I've heard stories from my family about the horrors of war. They told me ways on how to deal with losing a comrade. That's all."

He invited her in. She sat down on his bed and he sat in the chair. They talked to each other about where they grew up and stuff from their child hood. They even talked about Heirlark and BCM training. Jeff looked at his clock and it read 6:30 pm. She came in at about 3:45. He didn't realize they had been talking for two hours and some change.

"Edge I'm going to go run and turn in for the night."

"All right I'll see you in the morning."

She opened the door and left. Jeff had a smiled on his face. 'Maybe I'll be able to open to them after all. 'He left his room and walked out the barracks. He started walking toward the hangers. Peter N. Beagle was in pretty good shape for a man in his 30's. His beer gut wasn't there when he was feared far and wide and known as the Colonel. He was also known as Huckabein The Raven during the last war. He heard footsteps in the distance and saw Jeff coming up.

"Well what brings you to my humble abode?" Pops asked.

"Just getting some fresh air before turning in." Jeff turned around and saw what the old ace was working on. It was an F-22 Raptor. One of the best pieces of flying machinery ever built. "When did we get these in?"

"Earlier today. You guys were at St. Hewlett when these came in. Command has assigned them to Wardog. I've just finished up with this one. Got three more to do and hopefully have them mission ready by tomorrow."

They have been working for a couple hours talking back and forth when they heard sirens.

"What's going on?" Blaze asked "We got exercises going on or something?"

"We don't have exercises going on right now. We're under attack."

"Got to get to my plane." Blaze said as he started sprinting.

"Jeff hold up. Not enough time. Take this plane. She fueled and armed."

The bombs being dropped met their ears. Jeff flew up the ladder and started strapping in and flipping switches so the plane would come to life. Pops climbed the ladder and handed Blaze his helmet.

Pops in a low voice said" Show what it means to fight a ribbon"


	4. Chapter 3-Defenders of Sand Island

Disclaimer- I still own nothing

Then- Helped 3rd fleet make it out to the open ocean and Sand Island is attacked

Now- Pops found out about Jeff and Wardog defends Sand Island

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Blaze's hazel eyes went wide opened. How did Pops find out about his military record? No one knew not even the fat base commander knew about his past. The Belkan smiled" Don't worry Kid. Secret's safe with me. Look when you get back we will talk. Got some secrets of my own."

Jeff just nodded. As he finished the start up and moved his new plane onto the runway. 'Maybe this is what I need. Someone to talk to about this stuff.'

"Wardog 1 Sand Island Tower Scramble. Once you get to the runway take off. Link up with Wardog 2 and 3."

"Rodger. Any way of getting some extra backup?"

"We can try but we don't have enough pilots. We will do what we can. You guys are our best line of defense. Good luck."

Blaze clicked his mike and starting gaining speed down the runway. He pulled back on the stick and he was starting to get airborne. He felt like he back with Mobius during Operation Katina. He was in a plane that the best squadron in Usea uses. He had to find his comrades not caring if Chopper was still pissed at him. He was finally airborne.

"Glad you finally made it up." Pops said. He was acting like he didn't know about and that made Jeff feel a surge of gratitude.

"Yeah I'm up. Thanks for the beast." Jeff answered. Pops laughed at the attitude and enthusiasm the pilot had. This was a plane he was more familiar with and he could get it to do what he wanted it to do. Being able to fly a plane like that would make any pilots day.

"Is your plane all, right?" the mechanic asked. If there were any problems, he would be able to fix it on the other three.

"Everything is all good here. She flying real smooth."

"Well that's good to hear. Now go find your wingmen before you shoot each other."

Jeff smiled. He knew it was a good possibility. He was in a stealth fighter and with the other two still being new to combat they were still on edge and had itchy trigger fingers.

"Chopper Edge where the hell are you?" Jeff asked

"Were west of the island. Were about twenty miles out." Edge replied." The got B-1s"

'Lovely' Jeff thought. The B-1 Bomber could fly at low altitudes and at supersonic speeds. It Had a payload that rivaled the B-52. Its flying capabilities could all be done on auto pilot. Jeff whipped the plane onto the proper bearing. Chopper was feeling good about himself shooting down MiG's and Tornadoes. All the sudden he saw a black silhouette fly by hm.

"Damn Kid what is that?" Chopper yelled "You gave me a heart attack."

Jeff laughed at the remark. "It's my new plane." Jeff let out an excited whoop that brought I smile to Edge's face. 'Acting like a kid on Christmas.' Sher thought. She couldn't blame him though. She recognized the body shape of the plane. The F-22 was one of the best fighters in the modern world and Jeff was in one.

"Let's go and provide cover for him, shall we? Chopper engaging."

"Edge engaging" as she followed her comrade.

Blaze had come out of a dive and had one of the B-1s locked. He pushed the fire button a loud clunk came from the ventral bay and a Sidewinder was on the way to his target. "Fox two" He called out. The missile hit the intended target.

"Blaze splash one"

"Good kill." Chopper exclaimed. If Jeff could do it so could he. Chopper found himself what he thought was a lone bomber. He came up behind and was getting a missile lock when his warning alarm went off. A MiG appeared from the black sky and was on Chopper's tail.

"Chopper! Break" Yelled Jeff

'Shit I'm dead' Shot through Chopper's mind. No one was going to able to rescue him. Bartlett Edge or Blaze wouldn't be able to make it to him in time. He closed his eyes and it seemed that the good Lord was watching over him because a savior appeared.

"Archer Fox Two." Called an unknown voice. Chopper opened his eyes and saw a silhouette of a missile fly by and shoot the MiG that was following him.

"Where the hell did that come from!?" Chopper asked.

"I don't know" Edge said "I didn't see where it came from."

An F-5 had pulled up behind Chopper. "This is Airman First Class Grimm Callsign Archer. Tower and all aircraft will be joining Wardog Squadron."

Jeff recognized the voice. He has seen him working with Pops and the maintenance crews and helping the pilots. He was a replacement pilot and only flew when it was necessary.

"How did you get up here? You're not even out of replacement training yet." Chopper demanded not to politely.

"I was the only pilot that was ready. The first wave lit some of the hangers on fire. The needed everyone to help put it out."

"and you left them?" edge asked and for the first-time Jeff heard harshness in her voice.

"No ma'am" the young pilot said defensively "Pops told me to get into a plane and take off. He said he would get everything under control. He said you guys might need some help."

"Cut the chatter. He here now. Grimm cover Chopper. Edge your with me. We still got some bombers to deal with" Jeff commanded.

"Rodger." The three pilots said in unison. Wardog found the last four bombers and each plane letting loose a missile.

"Bombers down."

"Wardog. We have inbound fighters. Negative on IFF." Came the voice of their AWACS.

"Bout time he started talking" Chopper muttered. Jeff grinned at the annoyance of his voice.

"Enemies at bearing 220 at 5000 feet."

The flight turned to the proper heading. Jeff had picked up the fighters on radar.

"Got six pings coming back on radar. Wardog status report." Jeff said

"Edge I have used two Sidewinders. Full gun all AMRAMMs and two Sidewinders.

"Chopper. I have 3 of each and a full gun."

"Archer full gun three Sparrows all heat seekers"

'Good' he thought. He had two Sidewinders all AMRAMM and a full gun. They came up to the approaching enemy formation.

"Wardog flight engaging" Blaze said over the mike. Three clicks came back and Wardog engaged the enemy formation. The enemy formation split up and Wardog followed suit. Blaze and Edge, were chasing two of the fighters that made and dive and went low. Jeff went high while edge stayed low. The enemy wasn't expecting a missile to come from above. Jeff had got the pilots off guard and Edge got a lock on the second pilot and let a AMRAAM go. The plane turned into a fireball and Edge and Jeff rolled and went to go join the other two. Chopper and Grimm were able shoot down the other two and had air superiority.

They heard a call over the radio "This is Lt. Col. Ford. I'm out of fuel. Requesting clearance to land."

"Rodger Col. Permission Granted. Fly to Runway 12."

"What are you nuts!?" Chopper exclaimed.

"Lieutenant Davenport is that you? Remind me to write you up when I" Ford's voice had cut out as he was shot down.

"The bastard shot him down.! Chopper yelled as he dove down to chase the MiG that shot down the colonel.

"Scramble the rescue choppers now. ETA five minutes. Wardog RTB and wait for debrief. Colonel Perrault has stated effective immediately A1C Grimm is to join Wardog Squadron." Thunderhead stated.

"Rodger Thunderhead. ETA two minutes." The formation of the Raptor Two Eagles and a Tiger rolled as they prepared to land.

All four pilots went to the briefing room. Hamilton congratulated Wardog on defending the base. The pudgy base commander just sat there. He should have been the one to congratulate Wardog not Hamilton. This was his base after all. Perrault didn't like giving gratitude unless they were a friend or someone willing to kiss his ass. Pops had touched down earlier that morning and went straight to work. He acted like nothing happened. Once Blaze found out he landed he headed straight to the hangers. Pops had been impressed on how well he coordinated his flight. It reminded him of the Demon Lord and Solo Wing looking after each other.

"I see you decided to take me up on my offer" Pops stated. He was tinkering with one of the new Raptors as he was getting them combat ready for Wardog.

"Yeah. So how long have you known?" Jeff asked. He was getting straight to the point on something that made him uncomfortable.

"It was after your first mission. Bartlett showed me the gun cam footage of your flying. I will say I was impressed. I didn't recognize it immediately but a couple days later I was watching a documentary on Operation Katina." Pops stated" You're not Mobius 1, are you?"

"No. Not even close" Jeff replied. "I'm more like an honorary member. After seeing Mobius 1 fly he kind of inspired me to be a pilot." He explained how he joined Ustio Special Forces in 2003 and when the war in ISAF broke out he went there to help. He was with the ISAF Delta Force so they went wherever Mobius flew. After the war, he went to Mobius' HQ and talked to Mobius 1 and told him he wanted to join. Mobius 1 remembered him being part of the ground team that helped him out during operations. So, he trained him for a few months and then went back home to Ustio. He told his dad and uncle about being the pilot and they gave him some additional training. A little bit after that he was given the chance to fly with Mobius 1 during Operation Katina as Mobius 9.

"Who is your uncle and your dad?" Pops asked intrigued by the story

"Solo Wing Pixy and the Demon Lord. It's kind of hard to live up to if everyone knew who trained me and who my family is."

Pops nodded his head. "So, what about you? The way you talk about flying and how you drill BCM into some of the nuggets says that you are more than just some mechanic."

"Well your right about that." Pops stated" You ever hear of Huckebein The Raven?"

"All I know is he was a top ace in the Belkan Air Force. I think he died after getting shot down but I really don't know." Jeff said

'Wow. He has heard of me' Thought Pops. "You're right that got shot down but he is very much alive."

"How would you know?"

"You're talking to him." Pops grinned at the priceless expression of Jeff's face. Jaw dropped and eyes as big as dish plates.

"You were an ace during the Belkan War?"

"Yeah. I'm not quite as famous as Mobius or your family but I got around. That was until I refused to drop a nuke on one of the cities I was trying to protect."

"I get to have something that is all me. No obligations of living up to the Mobius name or Galm Team"

"You ever think you will want to go back?" Pops asked.

"Maybe. I kind of like having the freedom of being me and not the son of the Demon Lord or nephew of Solo Wing. What about you?"

"I'm a traitor. The moment I step foot in Belka I'll be erased."

"Erased?" Jeff asked

"Meaning they'll make me disappear without a trace and no one will ever find me. There's a radical party called the Grey Men. Just leave it at that and it'll make your life easier."

"So, we're both liars then huh?" Jeff asked and Pops chuckled

"Yeah but it feels good, doesn't it?" Jeff laughed

"Makes life so much simpler" He said with sarcasm. He turned away to leave.

"Jeff" Pops cried out. Jeff stopped and turned around" You ever need to talk I'm here."

"Same to you Pops." Jeff walked off. Maybe this was a good thing. Pops knowing who he was. At least he would be able have somebody to talk to and have someone with a little more insight. With that Jeff headed to his room. He opened the door and laid down and started drifting off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 4-Unexpected Disaster

Disclaimer: I didn't own it then so I don't own it now

Then- Sand Island was attacked. Pops and Jeff talked about their past.

Now- Unexpected disaster

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A couple hours later there was knock on his door. Blaze shot up and started rubbing his eyes. He got to the door and opened it. " What's up Edge?"  
"We got a briefing in a few minutes." She stated "C'mon let's go. You know Perrault won't be too happy if you're not there."

"You make it seem like I should actually give a shit what that fat asshole thinks." Those words made her stop walking.

"Why would you say that. You know he could have you court martialed." She said shocked at the fact he wasn't concerned about it.

"He wouldn't do it. Right now, we are the most experienced pilots here on Sand Island. He punishes me moral goes down and the Yuktobanians get Sand Island. He may be a politician but I would hope he's not that stupid." He gave her a smile. Something about him reminded her of Capt. Bartlett. Was he a good commander as he was? They made it to the briefing room and sat down.

Perrault finally walked to the room. The room was called to attention. He loved that. Everyone having to stop what they were doing just to acknowledge the man. A way to inflate a man's ego who never went to combat. Perrault was a politician. He took the pencil pusher way to get his rank and the pilots resented him for it.

"Settle down people." He said. Everyone sat down in their chairs. Jeff was thankful for the leaders that influenced him.' I'm not going to let anyone under my command turn into that ass hat.' He thought bitterly.

Your next mission is to escort three of carriers that escaped from St. Hewlett thanks to your efforts. We're going to use them for a counte3r-attack on Yuktobania." The pudgy man said

The Intel officer started giving the crew the mission details." You are going to be flying top cover for the Kestrel Buzzard and Vulture. We plan on getting them to the inland sea so the Yukes can't attack them. The mission will be fluid so we armed two of the Raptors for with air-to-air and the other two air-to-ground. You guys can pick on who gets what. You will be flying with wing tanks and when the mission is done you will be refueling in midair. Any questions?"

Jeff commanded" Room Atten-Tion." The intel officer and Perrault let the room. Something about the mission made Jeff uneasy. First was the drop tanks. He didn't want any extra weight that would sacrifice he planes maneuverability and stealth. The Raptor had points on its wings where you could add an extra missile or droppable pylons to carry fuel. The second thing that made him uneasy was the fact it seemed to easy. There wasn't one plan on the Sit-Rep image.

Jeff got dressed and headed to his plane. Jeff scowled and kept shaking his head trying to make sense of what he was feeling. He was getting his plane ready for take-off.

"Keep looking like that and you'll get wrinkles on your forehead. You ok Kid?" Jeff kept going. Pops was starting to worry. Finally, Jeff broke the silence.

"You ever get that feeling that something is bad is about to happen. Like its all too good to be true?"

Anybody who has been through enough combat developed a warrior instinct. It wasn't like he was predicting the future but when a seasoned warrior felt off there was normally a good reason. Pops knew that.

"Yeah but what's going on? I mean the intel is solid and there's not a lot of Yuke activity in the area. You ever felt this way before?"

"Yeah. My unit was the one who provided the intel so ISAF could attack Istas Fortress. We knew there was a possibility of it firing since it was inside the perimeter. We just weren't sure how quickly it could be brought to life." Jeff said

"What Happened during the mission?"

"Stonehenge opened up. Killed a fair few and made a lot more bail out. We were the only team in the area to perform SAR ops. Now we got a mission with no Yuke activity as were trying to get closer to their backyard. I feel like were walking into a trap Pops. Like a sniper waiting for the perfect kill shot."

Pops winced at the pilot's emotion. Someone who spent some time on the ground would be able to come up with that analogy. He handed Jeff his helmet and helped Jeff finished strapping in. Jeff closed the canopy gave Pops a thumb up and taxied out to the tarmac. A few minutes later Wardog was on the runway. Wardog finally lifted in the air and headed toward their destination.

The carriers finally reached the inland sea. There were no problems and no sign of the enemy. Easy mission by any one's standard. Still Jeff couldn't shake the feeling like something bad was going to happen.

"That's was a piece of cake" Chopper stated as the F-14s headed back to their perspective carriers.

"I agree." Archer chimed.

Blaze to focus on his radar looking for any blip that didn't belong. No one in their right mind wouldn't want to tangle with a force this size. Not unless they had a plan to take them on.

"Thunderhead Wardog 1 request status on long range radar."

"What's going on Kid?" Chopper asked. He couldn't understand why his captain was checking the long-range radar. Everything was clear and had been the entire mission.

"Thunderhead to Wardog 1 nothing on long…wait. All planes get back in the air! Bandits bearing 340! Prepare to intercept"

All hell broke loose. Anyone that was trying to land was waved off by the landing crews while the rest of the carrier crews got the planes ready to launch. Everything was going to take time which was a luxury they couldn't afford since they were caught off guard. If you were trying to fend off a surprise attack time wasn't on your side.

"Wardog split up!" Jeff yelled "Those things will be carrying Harpoons. Hurry and link up with the Buzzard and Vulture and stop before the gin into range to launch those missiles!"

"Rodger" Wardog responded as the went their separate ways to provide cover for their comrades.

"Wardog this is the Kestrel. We're moving as fast as we can. We already at max speed. We try to go any faster we will burn out the engines. We'll be launching some squads in the air. Hold them off till then."

Jeff said some few colorful words to himself as he was trying to get a Harrier into his sights before it launched its Harpoon. Too late Blaze saw something detach from the belly of the plane.

"HARPOON LAUNCHED!" Blaze lined his pipper on the VTOL and sprayed it with red death. Wasn't going to waste missiles on a slower plan. Jeff pulled up from the wreckage and checked on his team. Chopper had shot down a Harrier and was right off his wing. When had he done that? Edge was pulling up from a fireball. He saw the last moments of Archer's engagement. He did a 'slash and dash' run and kept the bandit in gun range to make the kill

"Nice Grimm." Jeff said to him. He really was impressed with the young airman. Two kills and with n help. This kid was truly a golden arm.

"Thank you, sir." He replied enthusiastically.

An F-14 had pulled up right behind Wardog. It was Snow "Glad to see you've matured somewhat since the last time I saw you."

"It wasn't that long-ago Capt. Snow." Jeff answered. The naval pilot laughed.

"True" He replied "But you guys are our best line of defense."

"Weren't you flying in the Belkan War?" Chopper broke in. There was a moment of silence

"Yeah. I was at Waldreich when those bastards dropped their nukes." The horror he witnessed as seven nuclear bombs went off in Belka. The conversation was making the naval pilot uneasy.

"Drop it Chopper." Jeff sternly said knowing Snow was feeling uneasy about the subject. "We still got enemies in front of us."

"Bandits at 135 altitude 4000. They have Harpoons as well. Wardog Swordsman stop them." Thunderhead commanded. All five pilots gave clicks on their mikes.

"I'll follow your lead Blaze. Whatcha wanna do?" Swordsman asked.

They needed to take out those planes before they got into range to fire the Harpoons. "You wouldn't happen to be carrying AIM-54s would you?" Blaze asked.

"Want me to use them?"

"If it's not too much trouble. That would take out the remaining threats to the fleet."  
"Rodger." A few seconds later four missiles came flying from the F-14 and hit all four planes.

"Confirmed splash. Nice shot Swordsman." AWACS commented. All planes lopped back to head back to the carriers. The next few words that came from the AWACS made Jeff's skin crawl. The bad feeling, he had before the mission was coming unveiling itself right before his eyes.

"CONFIRMED BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCH!"

"What the fuck!?" Chopper exclaimed

"Are they trying to kill everyone? This is insane!" Screamed Grimm

"Thunderhead this is Blaze. Is the missile nuclear?" Everyone waited in silence hoping it would come back negative. It seemed like hours flew by before they got their answer.

"Negative on being nuclear. But it is MIRV air bursting missile. Climb above 5000 feet."

Wardog and Swordsman along with a couple more pilots were the only ones able to make the climb. Some of the other pilots were on their way to land as other were hanging above their carriers prior to the burst missile being launch. The pilots couldn't get enough speed to make the climb. They weren't going to make it.

"Five…Four…Three…Two…One Bursting Now!" Thunderhead yelled. There was a loud explosion followed by a burning bright red light followed by the screams of sailors and pilots.

"Oh, my God!" Edge exclaimed as It sounded like she was crying.

"No" Grimm said solemnly

"This can't be happening!" Chopper yelled.

Everyone horrified about what happened. For Blaze, he was back as SSgt Loomis providing intel on Stonehenge as the ISAF forces were attacking Istas Fortress.

" _Eagle 6 to Sky Eye!" Jeff yelled "Stonehenge is ready to start firing. You need to get those planes out of the Op Area! I repeat Stonehenge is firing! Get everyone one out of the fucking AO!"_

" _Rodger Eagle 6. All planes Stonehenge has opened fire. Drop below 1500 feet and get out of the AO. 10 second to impact. Eight. Seven…Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…One aaaand Impact!" Jeff heard the screams of pilots coming in through his radio that would haunt him for a long time._

"BLAZE!" Edge yelled jolting Jeff out of his nightmare. All three pilots were checking to see if their flight was ok. Jeff was the only one who didn't respond.

"You ok Kid?" Chopper asked

"Damage report." Thunderhead said still numb from what has just happened.

No one wanted to answer that question. Swordsman finally broke the ghostly silence.

"This is Swordsman. I'm all right and it looks like Wardog squad made it too."

"Two carriers lost. Doesn't look like there are any survivors." Grimm said his voice hollow.

"This is the Kestrel. We made it out ok. Swordsman RTB for debrief." Everyone was surprised that the Kestrel made it. If everyone was paying attention during the damage report they would have heard Grimm say two carriers lost.

"Thunderhead to Wardog. Head to Heirlark Base for rearm and refueling." Jeff didn't say nothing. He rolled his plane to the proper heading.

"Wardog do you copy?" The AWACS genuinely concerned for Wardog. Thunderhead had really gotten attached to them and wanted them to be ok. Anytime Wardog launched he was right there. He was their controller.

'Wardog 2 Rodger." Edge said realizing Jeff wasn't going to answer. Jeff was still reliving THAT mission again. Having to perform SAR operations was one thing but to see what something like that could do first hand was an entirely different beast. A few Hours later Wardog had made it to Heirlark.

"Wardog Heirlark Tower cleared to land on runway 5."

"Rodger Tower cleared to land on runway 5" Jeff said his voice still a little dead. He came out of his shock a while ago but still didn't help what he was feeling. The planes touched down and went to the nearest hangar to be serviced. Jeff ran through his shutdown procedures on auto-pilot. He opened the cockpit and started grabbing his gear.

"You ok Jeff" a voice from behind him said. It was Edge trying to check on her flight lead. That was the first time she ever used his first name. She was really concerned about him.

"Huh?" He asked in a hollow voice. He grabbed his gear and closed the canopy. He went down the ladder. He doubled checked himself to make sure he had everything.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Her concern for him caught him off guard. He didn't think they knew each other well enough to have that much concern.

"Nothing" he stated and started walking off.

Edge filled with frustration screamed "Don't give me that Shit!" She startled herself and Jeff in the process. "You won't get over it if you don't open the hell up to someone."

Blaze turned to her. For a moment, it felt like someone else staring at her through Jeff's hazel eyes. "Listen to me Kei" he stated So he did know her first name. She was caught off guard by that. "I appreciate the concern but I just need to sort this out on my own."

"Why?" She didn't understand "You know we're here for you. Why do you want to do this alone?"

"I have my reasons. Just there are things that aren't to be known." He really wanted to open up to her. He couldn't stand lying to them. He didn't want the fact he had been lying to them out in the open. Edge felt crushed that he wouldn't open up. 'What was going on with him?' she thought. 'Does he not trust me.' You wouldn't have someone you didn't trust guard your back. So, what was he hiding? Edge didn't have the foggiest idea and let go.

"These MiG's shoot at us first. I'm screaming at out our AWACS to give us permission to shoot. We're being told to keep…" Chopper was telling the nuggets of their first battle. Jeff quit listening and started to walk down to the chow hall. He grinned when he saw an article titled 'The Four Wings of Sand Island'. It was written by the reporter Genette. There was a picture of the four them with Choppers bicep.

Jeff was trying to gag down some of Heirlark's infamous cooking. 'Oh, my god. Never would I think I would have to eat this shit again. Why I constantly pissed off Smith.' Chopper came in as he was pushing the tray away.

"Hey Kid" Copper said in his cheerful manner. He chuckled at Jeff's face of disgust. Chopper knew how the cooking was. Every pilot who was in OADF knew about Heirlark's gourmet cooking. Pilots would drop out because they didn't stand the cooking.

"Shut the fuck up Chopper." Jeff half-laughed still looking a little green from the food. "That's why I pissed Smith off so much. At least I could hunt while I was being punished."

"Why can't they have any decent food here?"

"Because lieutenant food isn't our main priority." Came a voice from behind them. The base commander and another officer was standing behind them. Both pilots stood up at attention. She just smiled

"At ease guys." She said. Colonel Amanda Renolds in charge of the base. She was the opposite of Perrault. Kind encouraging and she listened to what pilots had to say. She oversaw making sure the cadets and properly trained before they were shipped out to ACM training. The officer behind her happened to be Blaze's old IP Capt. Danielle Smith.

"That explains why you were always getting on my nerves." Capt. Smith stated. During Jeff's time at Heirlark he would purposely make a mistake during BCM. His IP wanted perfection. Of course, she knew that people were human and were never perfect but when you keep making the same small mistakes over and over it would really grind on her nerves.

"At least I got to go hunt for a couple days. "All four officers laughed.

"Was the food just as bad when you guys went through?" Chopper asked. Jeff elbowed him in the ribs. You don't ask the base commander something like that.

"It's ok. I don't mind" She stated" We had rations when I was here. You guys had it better than I did."

"I think they were just starting to get real food when I went through. I know I ate a lot of rations."

They all started laughing again. They were talking for another five minutes before Renolds gave Blaze a serious look. "Lt. Loomis could I have a word with you in my office please."

Jeff with a puzzled look on his face followed the two ladies. Chopper with nothing left to do went back to the crew room. The colonel's office was beautiful. There book shelves along the left wall with model airplanes that she must have flown. The right wall had frames awards certificates that she earned along with file cabinets with every cadet at Heirlark. In the middle was a cedar desk with a beautiful shine with a huge window with blinds.

She sat down in her leather chair behind her desk and motioned Jeff to do the same. Smith sat down right next to him.

"Orders have come down from Central Command. And I don't like them" She started. Jeff shook his head knowing that the next few words that were going to be said weren't going to be good. "I have no say so in the matter but Command has ordered the activation of all pilots here at Heirlark effective immediately. I tried getting some answers and even told them the cadets weren't ready but they shut me down."

Jeff felt a heavy weight on his shoulders "What do you mean 'activation of all pilots'." Capt. Smith handed him a roster of names. Both officers were glad he caught on to wait was said.

"What I'm saying Lieutenant is that all the names on that list are being transferred to Sand Island for immediate advanced training and combat deployments." A silence fell over the room. Jeff kept tapping his feet on the ground for a couple minutes before he stood up and broke the silence.

"Ma'am permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"Are you fucking shitting me!? What the fuck do they think is going to happen!? These cadets have only the simple grasp of flying and they want to send these kids into combat!? Command is sending these kids to die. This is some fucking bullshit! And what really pisses me off the most. IS if something happens it's going to be my fucking fault!"

"Jeff calm down" The voice coming from his old IP trying to calm him down and put his mind at ease "Training you was an honor. I knew you were going to be a good leader. I know this sucks but the only thing you can do follow orders and teach the nuggets the best you can. I know your mad but at least try and calm down. So, can you please sit back down?"

"Sorry ma'am." Jeff said in a calmer tone as he sat back down in the chair.

"Lieutenant I'm glad you see things the way me and the captain do. We're going to get the nuggets ready before you guys leave at 0900hrs. You're going to have to land at every base along the way since they haven't been taught to midair refuel. Until then just relax everything will work itself out."

Jeff stood up and gave the colonel a crisp salute which she returned. He told both ladies it was good to see them and gave a firm hand shake. Now he had to tell his squad the return trip was going to take a lot longer than expected.

"You're Kidding!? Edge exclaimed. "What do they expect is going to happen?" Archer and Chopper just nodding their heads and for once Chopper being at a loss for words.

"I Know I know" Jeff said in a soft while motioning his hands to get Edge to tone it down a little bit." Renolds has no say in the matter. If it was up to her she would keep them here till she felt, they were ready. It's out her control and these orders came straight from CENTCOM. We can at least try and train the nuggets in the meantime till Perrault finds someone like Bartlett to teach them."

Chopper burst out laughing "Man those nuggets are fucked." Doubt clear in his tone" Perrault is just going to find someone that will kiss his ass and just give what he wants. Not what the nuggets need." The other three nodded. Perrault only wanted to move up in the chain and didn't care how he had to do it. If that man was ever made General some military units were going to be in a world of hurt.

'That just means we need to teach the nuggets what we know and work a little extra harder to keep the nuggets alive." The other three nodded as Jeff headed to the room that was prepared for him. He set his alarm clock and went to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5- Bird of Peace

Disclaimer: Same old' Same old'. I own nothing

Then- Wardog go to HeirLark and are told to escort all nuggets to Sand Island for immediate deployment

Now- Wardog defends the Arkbird

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jeff alarm clock was blaring at him. The clock read 0800. He finally sat up and turned the noise maker off. He woke up Chopper and Grimm and all three pilots started getting ready to head back home. They started to head out to the hanger and Edge ran up behind them to join the group. All four pilots were talking about the orders and how they were going to train the nuggets.

"I don't know" Jeff said" For right now let's just focus on getting them to Sand Island and then cross that bridge when we get there. Edge, you worry too much."

"I don't think you worry enough. But you're right."

Jeff gave her a half smile and told her everything would be ok. They went out to the runway. Wardog was the first to take off followed by four other flights. As they were in the air Jeff told them their itinerary. He heard groans coming from the other three Wardog pilots and them saying the nuggets should have stayed at Heirlark. Jeff didn't like it either but orders were orders. After about ten hours of flying they finally reached their last stop. McNealey Air Force Base Home of the Arkbird.

"Wardog to Tower requesting to land on runway 8."

"Permission granted Wardog. All other Flights follow Wardog."

Jeff and the rest of Wardog rolled so they could lane on the runway. The touched down and parked their planes in the hangar and got out to watch the nuggets land. Two planes from Bravo flight had to circle around three times and try and land. Delta flight wasn't doing to good either. Delta's flight lead came in way to steep and instead of doing a two-point landing he did a flat three-point landing instead. Pops and the maintenance crews weren't going to be happy when they got a hold of those planes.

"Dude" Shaking his head in embarrassment "Were we ever that bad?"

"No. I can't even remember landing like that." Jeff stated. The other three pilots agreed. Grimm the newest member to the squad was better than these guys. He may have had more hours in a plane and a little combat experience but the kid was a natural. Jeff would agree with anyone who would call Archer a golden arm. The guy really did have talent.

"I don't know about you guys but I've been stuck in a plane for four hours so I'm headed to the break room." Chopper stated. Everyone agreed to that statement and headed inside the building.

When the doors opened, they felt the cool air coming from the air conditioning and headed straight to breakroom. It was a bright room with a lot of windows to let in the natural light. There were plush sofas and a few recliners. Reading lights and outlets so you could charge your cell phone or laptop. Then of course there were the vending machines. There were quite of few of them each one stacked with a different array of snacks.

Chopper whistled." Damn this is nice. Much better than ours at Sand Island." He stated. With the fat base commander trying to pinch pennies amenities where the first to go. The vending machines were either broken or out of stock. Some of the furniture needed to be replaced too. This lead to a lot of resentment to the commander. Pilots were always transferring the first chance they got. Bartlett was good at pissing off the wrong people so he was stuck there.

"Glad you like it." A voice from behind the answered. The four pilots turned around and saw it was the commander. They exchanged the necessary customs and the commander continued "We had it redone about a month ago, A happy pilot flies best."

"There's a subtlety that most commanders lack" Nagase said coolly. She met two base commanders that were better than Perrault.

The commander laugh. "You guys are from Sand Island?"

"Yes sir." Blaze answered. The commander shook his head.

"I knew Perrault when we were at the Air Force Academy. He always placed his agenda first. Surprised they still let him graduate. Doesn't sound like he has changed at all."

"Wow."

"What kind of commander acts like that?" Grimm asked.

"One that's a politician first and a soldier second. Officers like that are becoming more prominent in the OADF. I would like to continue this conversation but I have a mission that requires your skills." With that all five of them left the room and went to the commander's office.

"Our military has decided to use the Arkbird." The statement met with surprises from everyone in the room. The Arkbird was meant to be a worldwide space station. Being built with the help from Yuktabania and various other countries it was supposed to help bring peace. With the current war between Yuktabania and Osea the project has been put on hold.

"The Arkbird is being fitted with a laser. We're launching it from the Mass Driver in a couple hours. Intelligence has reported that the Yukes know about this and plan to stop us. Wardog will help with the defense forces in place as well as maintain air superiority. All inexperienced pilots are barred from taking off. They're still kids for crying out loud." The colonel gave them a salute and left the pilots to suit up and ready themselves for battle once more.

Once Blaze got to his plane he was approached by one of the cadets. "Captain Are we launching too?"

Blaze continuing his checklist didn't bother looking up. " Not this time kid." Had the reputation of being blunt. If his wingmen knew better and could trust him to keep them alive he didn't care. He kept looking at his plane. They were given an air superiority loadout. Since they were close enough to the base they didn't need to drop tanks. More weight meant less maneuverability.

"But why sir. I'm good enough. I'm rated best in my class." The cadet rambled on about how good he was and how he was the best and everything else.

That did it. Jeff was pissed. The nugget thought he was hot shit, did he? Time to put this child in his place. "I don't give a shit how good you think you are. The answer is still no. I'm not going to have my wingmen die because they had to bail your sorry ass out." The nugget had a furious look on his face. "You barley understand the basics of air combat. The enemy will capitalize on your inexperience and kill you.

Jeff knew what he was talking about. He had gone after numerous planes as Mobius 9 that were trailing or lacked the inexperience. He has done the same thing as Blaze. It was the way of war. Killed or be killed. Lose sight of that and you are the one who ends up dead.

"Sir I can help. I promise I won't get in the way!"

Jeff sighed. The cadet didn't get it. All the pestering made Jeff even more furious. "Listen you impudent little shit. If you think you have what it takes fine. When we get to Sand Island we will do a little ACM practice. As of right now my orders say no cadets are allowed to take off. Now get the fuck out of my face and get back inside!"  
Jeff closed the cockpit before the retorts from the cadet could reach his ear.' Stupid shithead' Jeff fumed. 'Why do people got to be so freaking stupid.' Nothing pissed Jeff off more like a pilot like this. A pilot with a big ego was a pilot that would get himself or other killed.

"Houston Control this is Wardog flight checking in." Jeff said. They had reached their destination and about to start their Combat Air Patrol. It was where you flew around in a racetrack like pattern for an extended period. Jeff called it death by boredom. Nothing could kill your senses more than doing the same thing for a certain amount of time. Luckily for them the SSTO was about to launch so they wouldn't be there that long. Fifteen minutes here fifteen minutes to fly back from the base. Didn't seem so bad when Blaze thought about it.

"Rodger Wardog. Settle into your CAP pattern and standby."

"Wilco. Chopper I want you and Archer to take the upwind leg and me and Edge will take the Downwind leg." Three clicks came back and the pilots set themselves around the Mass Driver. They had enough coverage that if Control saw something odd on the radar Wardog would be there to intercept. After about five minutes of nothing going on they started to talk to each other.

"Me and my friends are plastered as all hell and then someone gets the idea…" Jeff stopped listening as he was telling Grimm about one of the times he and his high school buddies gotten drunk.

"Dunno what's worse." Jeff muttered still bored. "Flying in circles or Choppers inability to stop talking."

"Well You never know…" Edge was cut off by Houston Control.

"C-130's Inbound. Negative on IFF. Confirmed! Enemies Inbound! More enemies detected out over the water." Before Houston could finish Blaze started giving orders.

"Chopper Archer take out the C-130's. Edge you and I are going to take out the planes flying across the pond." As they speed across the water they got into range to engage the fighters.

"Edge engaging."

"Blaze engaging"

"Chopper splash one"

"Archer kill confirmed. Moving to the next target." The battle was heating. Edge and Blaze were engaged with a couple Typhoons while Archer and Chopper were shooting down the C-130's. While shooting them down Archer saw that the transport planes were dropping tanks out the cargo bay.

Blaze and Edge were running low on ammo. The couple of flights that they engaged ate up most of their gun ammo and a couple of missiles. One thing Jeff hated was to be useless. It didn't matter how big or how small the task was if it was helpful he would do it. The controllers were trying to scrub the launch but motivation from Blaze Chopper and Archer gave the scientists some hope and they were only twenty seconds from launch. Finally, the SSTO finally started moving faster and faster down the track. Jeff saw a puff of smoke come from one of the tanks. Knowing a HE round was launched. The round landed right behind the SSTO and the Mass Driver took off the track and was up in the air headed to space.

There was a lot hooting and hollering going on from everybody except Edge. She was happy to be alive but the thought of the Bird of Peace as it was sometimes called was being used for war. She could understand why but she still didn't like it. Know she had to return to base and make sure the cadets made it to Sand Island ok. She felt bad for them. Without finishing all their training, they were getting thrown into war. Blaze's voice came in through "Houston Control Wardog flight out of Ammo. Permission to RTB?"

"Rodger Wardog permission granted. We can handle the rest. Our anti-tank weapons are shredding through armor. Seems the Yukes thinned the armor to reduce the weight."

"Wardog flight checking out. RTB."

With that all the planes filed back into formation and headed back to base. They finally reached the base and taxied back into the hangar to get refueled before heading back Sand Island. Blaze descended the ladder only to be greeted by that cocky cadet again. The cadet wanted to pick up the argument where they left off. "Captain why didn't you let me launch with you. I would have made a difference."

Jeff wish there was a way he could scare him to death without getting in trouble. "we've been over this."

"But it was only cargo planes."

"That had escort fighters. You would have died. Like I said earlier if you think you would have made a difference we will do ACM practice when we get back. If you beat me then I'll admit I was wrong in front of everybody and you'll have my full vote of confidence." Jeff said non chalante.

"Fine ill prove it to you." The cadet left with a smile on his face.

"Looking forward to it." Jeff muttered shaking his head. The cadet had no idea what he had gotten himself into. The other three Wardog pilots had heard the whole thing and walked up.

"Wow. He's going to be shitting bricks when Blaze finishes up with him" Chopper said with a laugh and Grimm just nodded. Grimm hadn't seen Jeff get angry before but to be that scathing shocked the young pilot. Jeff was normally calm cool and collected. You had to cross some lines to piss him off.

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" Edge asked quietly. She felt for the cadet because she knew Blaze was going eat him alive.

"You want to see the kid die. He's the type of pilot that is going to get himself or others killed. I'm all for pilots having confidence but there's a difference between confidence and arrogance. That kid needs to put in his place. I've seen pilots like that get people killed" With that cold statement Jeff went over to the nuggets to tell them to suit up and get ready to leave.

A couple hours later everyone saw the beaches of Sand Island.

"Wardog 1 to Tower. Wardog 1 and Echo 1 wish to perform ACM."

"Tower to Wardog 1. Request approve cleared to 5000 feet."

Both planes flew in opposite directions and then turned to face each other. Lucky there was no ordinance because might have forgotten to turn the Master Arm to Off. It fell to Blaze to count them off

"3…2…1…Fights On!" Jeff pulled back on his stick and began to climb and the nugget followed. The nugget started to stall because the Raptor was a better plane than the Tiger and had a better thrust system. Jeff had an easy kill opportunity. Edge who was watching with everyone else knew why Blaze didn't take the kill. She was also trying to figure what he meant when he said he's seen pilots like that before.

'We went through training together. I mean he's about twenty-six. I wonder if he could be?' She thought. Back in the sky Jeff jinked again messing up the cadets shot. Every time the kid thought he was going to get him he would reverse and the cadet would have to start from square one. The nugget finally got behind Jeff but that was only because Jeff wanted him there. Finally, Jeff rolled on his back and pulled. As expected the nugget followed. Since Jeff had a better plane to make the tighter turn he reversed and was on the nuggets tail. After a few seconds, Jeff had a his pipper on the cadet. The battle was over and Blaze had won. Everyone was cheering as they landed and taxied over back to the hanger. The cadet joined the others and Jeff finally got out and descended the ladder.

"You all see that?" Jeff said in a thunderous voice that echoed in the hangar. Everyone was silent even the cocky nugget. "Just because you get good grades and do well in a classroom doesn't mean you can take on a real pilot. Remember what you have seen here today and you will survive. Know your limits. If there is a battle you're not sure if you can win bug out. Better to run and live to fight another day than to get yourself or someone else killed." Jeff walked off so he could get out his flight suit and go relax.

Pops grinned when he saw the pilot school the nugget. He was proud that the young pilot was living up to the names of those who trained him. Jeff was in complete control and it almost made his jaw drop seeing it.

"Nice job Kid." Pops said. Jeff just half grinned. " So, that's what it looks like when your trained by three aces."

"I guess. You really that surprised?"

"Not really. I know I wouldn't have been able to keep up with you. I think you would give your dad a run for his money. He never let anyone survive."

"I would hope so. I didn't go through his shit for nothing. Besides my dad did let people live. If they were stupid enough for going back in trying to shoot him or Solo Wing down, then yeah he killed them."

"Yeah I know. Saw that first hand."

"How was that?"

"When I was told to drop a nuclear warhead on a city in Belka I refused and went AWOL. Belka sent the assassination squad Schwarze Team after me. I flew right into the round table."

"What happened?" Jeff was in awe hearing the story of the Belkan ace and his dad and uncle crossing paths

"Your uncle and dad shot them down. I was shot down by an Belkan ace known as Grabacr. I ejected and that's how Bartlett and I met."

"You both bailed out in the Round Table?"

"Yeah and let me tell you. There's not much to live off there. Let alone radio reception is crap. Well that's all for today looks like you're being called back to your duties." Pops nodded his head and Jeff turned around. He saw Nagase coming up to them.

"You ok?" Jeff asked seeing the troubled look on her face.

"We've got problems."

"What now?"

"There's an invasion force on the way." Blaze didn't waste any time getting to the briefing room


	7. Chapter 6- Whale Hunting

Disclaimer: I own nothing once again

Then-Defended the Arkbird at McNealy Air Force Base

Now- Jeff defends Sand Island against a Yuktabanian invasion force

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Jeff and Edge made it to the briefing room. Once they opened the door they saw everyone. All the nuggets Chopper Grimm and some of the Security Force commanders. They all sat down when they saw Perrault enter the room.

"You people are like the plague you know that." Blaze rolled his eye and shook his head. His respect for the base commander was dwindling. The way he treats his pilots was a sure way to kill morale. Keeping your soldiers happy was key. Any experience commander knew that.

Edge was listening with half and ear. She was focused on the head of brown hair in front of hjer. Something inside her was screaming that he was an experienced pilot. Just the way he acted and some of the things he would say. Then there was Pops. She didn't think that they were that close but when she started coming up to them the got quiet. Were they talking about something top secret? If that was the case they would've been behind a closed door. The whole thing was making her head spin. She was going to keep it simple and start from previous war Jeff might have fought in.

"Well!?" Perrault shouted getting the nuggets and experienced vets attention. "Get going!Protect our base!" With that everyone rushed out of the briefing room to get ready to take on the invading enemy. Wardog was the first to get out of there. They didn't want to get caught in the traffic frenzy that was about to happen. Luckily for all four of them they were still in our flight suits. They finally made it to the hangar and were getting their planes ready for take off.

"Ready to go?" Pops asked sitting beside him. Jeff didn't answer as he was still going through his checklist to power on the plane.

"Yeah Im ready but this sucks."

"What sucks?"

"War. I just wanted to be a good pilot and just fly in some peaceful skies."

"Whatever Kid. If it was peace time you would be saying you wish there was a war. Face it. You live for the challenge."

"Maybe so but if I could always go participate in some mock aerial battle. No one would have to bail out or end up dead from missiles or bullet fire."

Pops smiled as he handed Jeff his helmet and descended the ladder. Pops watched as Jeff pulled out the hangar. Then the ace turned to a gun locker and pulled out an M-16 with a few magazines full of ammo. He wasnt infantry but he was still handy with a rifle. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Jeff was going to rip apart the enemy fleet.

Wardog was up in the air followed by a couple flights of nuggets. Blaze got on the radio and told them to go to their alternate channel.

"I don't want any arguments to start with the nuggets that why we went to button 2. All I want us to do is protect the nuggets. Let them sink the ships. If the ask for help then by all means help but lets keep them safe."

"No arguments their." Grimm said

"Rodger Kid." Chopper agreeing.

"I Just hope they survive." Edge had stated. She was fearing for the nuggets. Their first real battle and all she hoped was that nothing freaky was going to happen.

As they were approaching the AO Blaze got a glimpse of a couple flights of F-18s.

"Blaze enagaging."

"Chopper enagaging."

"Archer Engaging."

"Edge Engaging."

One by one each of the four planes rolled to greet their attackers. Blaze kept swerving and jinking trying to get one of the F-18s lined up with his pipper. Finally got a lock and sprayed red death. The F-18 went spiraling into the ocean.

"Blaze splash one." Jeff kept scanning the skies looking for anything out the the nuggets up in the air he was feeling uneasy. Trying to protect them and hold off an invasion force it was enough to make any pilot feel on edge. Wardog was doing a preety good job of keeping the nuggets safe. Chopper and Edge already shot down two planes and Grimmwas working on his third. The nuggets were doing ok but you could hear the nervousness in their voice.

"Foxtrot 1 Launching Harpoon." Jeff watched as the nugget launched his anti-ship missile. Jeff liked the Harpoon. It was real inventive. It would fly straight till it got on top of the target and then shoot straight down piercing through the ships armor. A carrier could even be sunk if enough Harpoons went through it.

"This is Thunderhead. Rodger that. Keep destroying enemy forces. Security Forces are handling any one who made it through." Some of the small landing craft were able to make I through. It was hard for them to gain ground since the Osean forces we dug in to deep.

"Edge splash one." She called out as one of the bandits went spiraling down to the ocean. She lost track of how many planes she shot down. She knew she was an ace. Chopper was an ace too and Grimm was close. Blaze had to be a double ace since he has splashed more than ten planes since the war started. She looked out her canopy and saw Jeff fire a missile and hit his intended target.

"Blaze killed another one." She said. Maybe he didn't need the kill. She was starting to wonder who Blaze really was. 'Ill just have to ask him wehre hes from and go from there.'

Everything Blaze said screamed experience. The way he acted after the missile attack his friendship with Pops not to mention how he treated the nugget that wanted to fly with them at McNealy. He was to young to have fought in the Belkan War but was old enough to have fought with ISAF. Was it possible for her flight lead to be the legendary Mobius 1. Through all her thinking she heard Thunderhead cry out

"BURST MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED!"

The panicked voice from Thunderhead wasn't helping. The nuggets were screaming at each other asking what was going on. Wardog started to climb to get to 10000 feet. Edge was trying to get the nuggets to calm down and get them to climb. Edge finally joined them as she was still trying to get the nuggets to calm down and climb.

"Data uplink from A-SAT Targeting computer." Thunderhead confused by the transmission "What the hell is this? Its counting down by itself. Ten…nine…eight

Blaze was listening intently waiting for the timer to reach zero. His heart was beating so fast it sounded like a heavy metal drummer playing double bass. The timer reached zero and there was a beam of light that cut trhough the sky. It sliced the missile in half. He saw the two uselkess halves start it descent toward the ocean.

"Kid did you see that!?" Chopper exclaimed "What was that!?"

"I don't know but it sliced that missile in half! Thunderhead can you tell me where that came from?"

Before the AWACS had a chance to answer Edge responded" The Arkbird. It was the Arkbird."

'This is what they launched the other day.' Jeff thought. Once it reached the Arkbird it was hooked up in a matter of hours. Give it a couple days to link up with the targeting computer and you got yourself a weapon. Jeff shook his head at the escalating force in the war. Excalibur XB-0 Stonehenge Megalith. The list went on. The bad thing was once the super weapons get deployed countless people died.

A foreign voice came over the radio "All Osean forces this is the Arkbird. We will handle the burst missiles. Don't worry about them."

"Attention all forces. We have the Arkbird. I repeat we have the Arkbird. Continue to attack the enemy." Cheers cam from the nuggets as they went back to attack the invading ships. Jeff didn't like the fact the Arkbird the symbol of peace was being used for war. He understood they needed to level the playing field but still he didn't like it. He wasn't as passionate about the Arkbird like Edge was. Her heart sank knowing it was being used as a weapon.'Ill talk to her once we get back to base.'

Wardog flight was circling above the F-4s the nugggets were piloting. Anyone wanting to mess with them were going to have to tangle with Wardog. Chopper saw a trail of smoke coming from the water.

"Wardog 3 to Thunderhead. Comfirm ballistic missile launch." He gave coordinates of the missile launch.

"Rodger locked on. Beginning data link. Arkbird do you have cdinates?"

"Have a lock. Beginning countdown. All aircraft avoid the line of fire. Ten..nine." Jeff saw the missile break in two once the countdown reach zero and send it back to the ocean. The nuggets were cheering as they swooped down to take out the remaining enemy vessels. Thunderhead boomed over the comms and his voice had a sense of urgency.

"Scinfaxi launching more missiles. Number four five." Jeff's hardened voice cut through their ears before the nuggets started to panic.

"Everyone get to 5000 fett now!"

There was no hesitation. Every plane flying over the ocean was climbimng franticly to get above 5000 feet. 'Just like Stonehenge. Got to relive this shit.' Nuggets screams were coming over the radio. Their tiny F-4s just couldn't match the speed of Wardogs plane and their planes began to stall while loosing precious time and altitude.

"C'mon Arkbird use your laser. The nuggets are going to get killed." Edge screamed. Chopper and Grimm were chiming in with their own variation of a desperate cry. Jeff said nothing knowing deep in his heart that the nuggets were doomed to horrible early death.' Maybe some of them will survive.' Jeff thought just hoping some of the young pilots would come back alive.

The four raptors were finally at 8000 feet. After the last run in with the Scinfaxi Jeff had told them to climb at 8000 feet just to make sure they were safe.

"Bursting Now." Thunderheads voice came over the comms. Jeff gritted his teeth as his plane was buckling from the sudden shockwaves. His ears were filled with the dying screams and the desperate cries for help. Those cries were going to be in his nightmares for quite sometime.

'Dammit is there nothing we can do?' cursing himself. Seeing the smoke trails and fireballs that were nuggets' planes. The whole burst missile thing was starting to piss him off. He was starting feel helpless. If there was anything that Jeff hated uit was feeling helpless.

"Sea Goblin dropping sonobuoys."

"Arkbird receiving sonobuoy data link."

Jeff was confused about was going on. Admist all the chaos Jeff missed the conversation between the Arkbird and the sub hunting helicopter Sea Goblin. Their plan was to drop the buoys and link the information to find the Scinfaxi. A couple minutes passed by then the Arkbird came back on the comms

"Coordinates locked in. Countdown to …nine…eight…seven…six...five...four…three… two…one.. Firing laser."

"what are thye firing at?" Archer asked. He was confused just like the rest of Wardog. A beam of light came down from the sky and pierced the sky blue water. Steam started to rise form the superheated seawater. Blaze thought they had missed there target. Finally something broke from the oceans surface. A flat arrow shaped vessel laid on top of the water.

"So that's the Scinfaxi." Blaze said aloud to let everyone else that was there know. Looking at the flat surface on top of submarine screamed bridge. He noticed the hull glowing a slight red. He switched to his Sidewinders hoping to get a faint lock on the sub.

"Wardog cover me." Jeff sent his Raptor screaming toward the giant vessel. The AA guns and SAM missiles were buzzing by his canaopy as he was trying to get into range to launch the heatseeker.

"Blaze pull up!" Archer and Chopper screamed at him. It fell on deaf ears. The only thing Jeff was thinking about was sinking that sub.

"Blaze you don't have any bombs. You're going to get yourself killed!" Edge yelled . She was trying to use reason to get Jeff to stop his suicide run. It was now or never. Blaze finally in range released a missile from plane.

"Blaze Fox Two." He pulled up hard. Feeling the g's against every inch of his body made him want to scream.

"Hit… Confirmed?" Edge not sure if her flight leads foolhardy and suicidal attempt did anything. With the kinetic energy from the dive combined with the explosion meant that Blaze penetrated the hull before it detonated. There was a puff of smoke coming from the submarine. "No way!" Astonished by the feat. She made up her mind to dig into Blaze's past.

"Arkbird firing laser." The beam cut through the sky once more and hit the Scinfaxi's enginges. Turning the hull red hot orange the sub engine compartment was starting to collapse. Wasting no time Wardog formed up to sink 'whale'.

"Edge Fox Two"

"Archer Fox Two"

"Chopper Fox Two"

"Blaze Fox Two"

Four missiles rained from the sky and detonated with devastating results. All the missiles detonated and starting causing secondary explosions. Black smoke was eminatting from the submarine. Gallons of seawater started pouring in making the ship that once sat firmly on top of the ocean lift in the air. The ship started to slowly sink below the ocean surface. Wardog had formed back up and the Scinfaxi was underneath the water. One more explosion came from ocean stating the Scinfaxi was destroyed.

Blaze unbuckled his mask from his helmet. The turned their planes and started to head back to Sand Island. The nuggets that had helped in destroying the fleet made what ships the Yuke Navy had retreat. The Security Forces fought the Yukes that tried to establish a beach head for another couple hours. Finally with no back up the remaining Yuke forces surrendered. The Four Wings of Sand Island finally made it back home.

"Ok back up." The loadmaster's voice barely audible as he was backing the dumptruck up to one of the metal dumpsters. A week had nearly gone by since Yuktobania tried to invade Osea. Between the Arkbird and Jeff's suicidal run it went to show that air power could out perform the most advanced ship in the sea. Few harriers were able to make it to Sand Island before Wardog was able to get to them. The runway had light damage but the same couldn't be said for the hangars. They had taken a beating. The crews were working feverishly to get everything cleaned up and patched up. With no impending invasion and no missions at the moment the Wardog pilots decided to help.

"Thanks Lieutenant. Making our lives a little bit easier." The loadmaster said as Jeff finished dumping the rest of the debris into the dumpster.

"Its no big deal. We got nothing better to do. What are you guys going to do with this stiff anyway?"

"Where going to take it to another base to get it recycled. Beats dumpimg it over the ocean."

Brian just laughed at the remark imagining what would happen if the environmentalist found out that the military was dumping debris in the ocean. It still wouldn't help the image that the military has right now. The peace activist on the news are critizing Wardog and the OADF saying it's a big misunderstanding and that Osea should pursue a more diplomatic situation. The enviromentLIST are destroying Sand Islands eco system because the Arkbird fired a laser into the ocean. Both parties were calling for a decommission of Sand Island.

Jeff finished loading up the last of debris and dropped in the dumpster. The kitchen staff set up a white collapsible pavilion. Jeff went over and got himself a cheese burger fired and an ice cold soda. He sat and started eating. No war no missions just the warm sun and blue sky his day couldn't get any better. Edge scowled at a computer screen. She and Blaze had talked about where they grew up and about their childhood a couple nights ago. She looked in the Ustio and ISAF records trying to find out anything she could about Jeff's past. She found out he was in the Ustio Special Forces but they didn't explain his combat demeanor since Ustio hasn't been deployed to war for a while. There was nothing in the ISAF data base that had Jeff's name on it. She called his parents and asked for information. Luckily for Jeff his dad kept a tight lip about his son. A whole week and nothing to show for it.

"Lt. Loomis."

'The fuck does this asshole want.' Jeff thought to himself. He could recognize that voice anywhere. The voice of the base commander. He walked over to the commander and gave him a quick salute. He caught the smirk on the colonel's face.

"Come with me Lieutenant." He said motioning his finger to come here. Jeff wanted to break the ma's finger but he listened and followed the 'good' colonel. The made it to the briefing room and not to his Jeff's surprise he saw the other member of Wardog there.

"At ease people." Perrault said as he made it around his desk "Bout time you four actually get something done." That comment was enough to set Jeff off.

"Do something sir? We have been doing something. We have been helping the crews fix the airplanes or clean up the debris from the hangars and runway. So what the fuck you mean 'Its about time we do something.'!"

"I hope you just had a brain fart Lieutenant because you need to watch how you speak to a superior officer unless you want to be relieved from your command." The colonel said coldly. Jeff sat back down not saying anything and going through every anger management excersise that he knew off. Luckily Jeff was a very logical and had good self discipline to get himself under control.

" Now that the lieutenant is done lets get this started." Jeff shook his head "You four are going to patrol northern part of our Air Defense Zone. You will split up in two elements and begin your sweep. If for some reason you see the enemy feel free to shoot them down." Jeff looked at the digital map. They weren't going anywhere near the front lines. 'This is gonna be fun on a bun.' Jeff thought shaking his head. It was going to be a boring mission.

"Oh more thing." Perrault's voice stopped everyone in their tracks. He threw four blue velvet boxes on his desk with a little bit of resentment and headed out the door. They looked like ring boxes except flatter and a little bit longer.

"Don't fuck this up." He snapped as he waddled down the hall

"What are those?" Edge curious about what to make of the boxes

"No harm in opening it." Chopper stated eager like a kid on Christmas to see what was inside.

Chopper tossed one to Grimm and the other to Jeff. All four pilots opened them up to find their new rank inside.

"Weve been promoted!" Chopper exclaimed seeing a silver bar inside. The silver bar was the insignia for Fisrt Lieutenant.

"I got a gold bar." Grimm stated. Command had given him a field commission to Second Lietenant.

Jeff wondered who in command threatened Perrault to promote them as he was putting on his silver bar. "Lerts get to the hangars before we get demoted." Jeff said with a joking tone. All four Lieutenants left the briefing room and went to get ready for their mission.


	8. Chapter 7- 8492

Disclaimer-Still own nothing.

Then-Scinfaxi is sunk

Now- Escorting a mysterious plane

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A couple hours later Edge and Blaze were in their racetrack CAP pattern. Chopper and Grimm were a couple hundred miles away doing the same thing. Jeff didn't like splitting up the flight. Orders were orders and Blaze had to follow them. Jeff was starting wish he was with Brian and the rest of Mobius. During Operation Katina Brian was able to make the final call on orders. It was their lives on the line not the higher ups.

"This is SO BORING. Why couldn't we get a better mission?" Chopper cried out in frustration

"Looks like I win the bet." Edge said before Blaze had a chance to respond.

"Another ten minutes and I would have won. I owe you a couple round of drinks." Blaze stated

"What was the bet?" Chopper asked

"How long it was going to take before you started talking." Blaze said. Wardog stayed silent over the radio except the hourly check-in to Thunderhead.

"You guys are assholes." Chopper chuckled.

All four pilots were joking around before a broken transmission came in.

"He…ly…. dam…. d…. dio…func…n…ca…you…ear…s?"

"Transmitting aircraft this is Wardog 1 state your callsign and intentions." Blazed looked down at his radar and saw a blip on the radar about twenty miles away from him and Edge. They started getting closer to the plane the transmissions were clearing up.

"Thank goodness. I thought we were dead for a minute."

They switched to a second radio. It was required by all planes to have two radios whether it was civilian or military. That second radio was for situations just like this.

"This is the heavy transport plane Mother Goose 1. We're on a classified mission and were not transmitting a valid ID signal. One of our own SAM sights fired on us."

Edge and Blaze came up on the plane. It was an OADF C-5 Galaxy transport plane. It would take more than just a missile to bring the albatross down. You would have to get lucky and hit a fuel tank or something that would cause it to explode with just one missile.

"What's your status?" Blaze asked.

"Our radar is out so we can't get a fix on the SAM batteries." Blaze wasn't too happy. A transport plane with no radar and is on a top-secret mission. Not to mention it wasn't giving a friendly ID signal. This wasn't going to be easy. The transport plane made matters worse. "Our controls have been damaged as well."

'You've got to be shitting me' Jeff wanting to bang his head on his Raptor's control panel. Destroying burst missile subs and then having to escort a top-secret transport plane all he wanted was just one easy mission.

"Mother Goose 1 standby. Edge go to Button 2."

"Rodger. Going to Button 2"

Button 2 was a second channel Blaze had set up for Wardog. It made coordinating his flight easier without Thunderhead or ground controllers interfering with them. It also made a way for them to talk about a pilot behind his back.

"What do you want to do" Blaze said as soon as both were on the frequency.

"I say we help them. You're the captain so its whatever you decide."

"Your no help." Jeff said jokingly. Chopper cut in and forced him to make a decision.

"Hey Kid. We got a problem."

"What now?" Jeff said with agitation. He wasn't mad at Chopper but trying to escort a friendly damaged aircraft was already going to tough. He didn't need any more stressors.

"Our early warning guys picked up some bandits headed straight toward us. Warning alarms are going off like mad."

"Fuck me. Babysitting a crippled transport plane with incoming bandits. You and Grimm high tail it back to us. Me and Edge will get the plane to safety."

Chopper clicked his mike. Blaze looked at his radar for a moment and found a way to get the plane to safety. He switched frequencies so he could talk to the plane.

"Mother Goose 1 this is Wardog. I have a way to get you out of this defense grid. Just follow my instructions and you'll be fine." He wanted to ease the mind of the transport pilot.

"Rodger that."

"First heading is going to be 076." Jeff noticed the plane wasn't able to make hard turns. He was going to call off the next heading in advance to give the crippled albatross enough time to be able to turn properly. All three planes rolled and were on the proper heading. After they straightened out Blaze had the next heading.

"Next heading is 120. Turn on my mark…Mark." Once again, all three planes turned. The wings of the Galaxy grazed the tip of the SAM radar. Everyone held their breathes. They straightened out and once again Jeff was trying to find them a decent heading.

"Next bearing is 083. Three…two…one…mark." All three planes turned and were slowly getting out of the defense grid. Fifteen minutes later all three OADF planes made it out the grid. Chopper and Grimm caught up to them and joined the formation. A couple minutes later the Wardog pilots heard a gunshot.

"Hey what gives?" Chopper asked

"Mother Goose 1 are you all right?" edge asked concerned. "Mother Goose 1 come in."

A voice had come on the radio. It was the voice that every Osean has heard time and time. The Commander and Chief of the Osean military President Harling. "Ah yeah we're fine. There was a spy aboard. Tommy has taken control of the plane but he's just an aide. Can you help him fly this thing?"

Thunderhead coming across the comms with a statement to make Wardog shutter

"Enemies inbound. Bearing 360 altitude 6000."

"Fuck. Why do they have to come now?" Jeff exclaimed. The Yukes timing was perfect. A damaged transport plane with the Osean president. Someone must have leaked some information.

"Me and Edge are going to intercept. Chopper and Grimm, you guys stay back and protect the plane. Anyone comes near it that is not transmitting a friendly IFF shoot them down." Jeff ordered

Jeff heard the enemy transmission being transmitted from the AWACS.

"There it is."

"If we shoot this down they will build a statue in our honor."

"All right let's shoot it down."

The Yukes knew who they were going after. This was supposed to be classified. The fact that they knew how to navigate the defense grid and know where to be not to mention who they were going after meant that there was a leak high up in the Osean chain of command.

"Edge Fox Two"

"Blaze Fox Two"

Two missiles went flying. The Yukes weren't expecting a fighter escort and they were going to pay the price. The missiles hit their target.

"Edge and Blaze Splash One." Thunderhead called out

Edge and Blaze flew into visual range and saw two more planes. The two planes were MiG 29 Fulcrums. The Fulcrums could take off from any platform. They had doors that could cover the intakes so they could take off in grassy or sandy areas.

Blaze switched to guns and was trying to line his pipper up on the MiG. As the two planes were dog fighting the second MiG got on Blaze's tail. His warning alarm was going off.

'When did he get there?' Jeff thought. He was holding off the other MiG while trying to shoot the other one. Jeff realized standard tactics weren't going to cut it and he was going to have to open up. Jeff pulled back on his stick hard and began to climb. The plane had started to stall making the MiG over shoot. Catching the MiG off guard he was able to get a missile lock and shoot him down.

"Blaze Splash One"

Blaze pulled away from the fireball and went after another on. Switching to guns he got in gun range and let the other MiG have it.

"Blaze scratch another one."

"Rodger. Your flight is requesting help with Mother Goose 1." Thunderhead replied

"Copy that. On my way." Blaze turned to go join his flight. When he arrived, he saw that the Galaxy was losing altitude. The flaps were down and landing gears where out. They were going to make an emergency landing. Edge was coaching the aide on how to land the bird which explained why she wasn't covering him.

"Are your engines idle?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Now pull back on your stick until the horizon is hidden by the instrument panel."

The rest of Wardog had knocked out some power windmills to give the plane a nice runway. Some people were going to pissed about the loss of power. The plane hand landed kicking up dust as the had touched down on the field.

"That was a smooth landing Ms.…" The President didn't know Nagase's name.

"Nagase. Kei Nagase."

"Well thank you for the help. Who is your flight lead?"

"First Lieutenant Jeffery Loomis sir."

"Sir can I ask you something?" Edge said.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Did you really have to use that beautiful white bird for war?"

"We had to level the playing field. We were headed to North Point to begin peace talks in neutral territory. I don't want anyone else to lose their lives. Thank you for all your help."

"Kid. What's the plan? We can't just leave." Chopper asked

"I don't know. We will stay here for as long as we can. Thunderhead radioed for an escort to take our place."

Five minutes later the heard another voice coming over the radio

"This is the 8492nd Squadron. We will take it from here."

"Rodger 8492nd. Appreciate the backup." Blaze said

"No problem. We're going to take good care of this guy."

Wardog rolled and changed their heading to go home. The sun was starting to set when they made it back to Sand Island. They taxied their planes shut them down and got out their cockpits. They all went to the briefing room to see only Captain Hamilton there.

"Where's Colonel Perrault?" Jeff asked curious as to why the fat commander wasn't there to debrief them.

"He's in another meeting. Something big has happened. The Arkbird has been disabled."

The Wardog pilots were shocked. How could the Arkbird been disabled?

"What happened?" Jeff asked.

"It was an enemy spy. He planted explosives in a supply shipment."

"Sir speaking of spies I have a firm belief that someone in our government is supplying the enemy with intel. While Mother Goose 1 was en route to North Point…"

Hamilton cut him off." Yes the 8492nd wanted to commend you on protecting the President."

"I knew his voice was familiar just want sure let alone say anything that might get him killed." Chopper stated

"I thought the missions was supposed to be classified. No one should have known but the higher ups but we were engaged by four Yuktobanian MiG 29s. They knew where the President was going to be and if it wasn't for us he would be dead." Blaze stated

"Do you believe someone in Central Command has turned traitor?"

"I believe so Sir." Jeff stated with a sigh having a hard time believing why someone would turn traitor.

"Be careful with those accusations." Hamilton stated running his hand through his hair "They have to brought to light with extreme caution."

"So, you're not going to do anything about it?" Jeff asked with a little more force and demanding tone than he should have.

"Unless I specifically say different I am going to do something about this. I said we must be cautious with this information. Don't ever accuse me of not doing my job and you might want to show a little more respect for your superiors. Do I make myself clear Lieutenant?' Hamilton barked staring at Jeff with his cold blue eyes.

"Yes sir." Jeff said solemnly. Hamilton was good at his job and that much was clear. Jeff just wanted him to see the bigger picture instead of going through the red tape.

"I'm going to take this up the chain and I will let you know the results." Hamilton said leaving the briefing room.

All four pilots left the briefing room and went to the barracks to take showers and get some rest. Hamilton went back to his office. He sat down and pulled out a black cell phone. He dialed a few number and waited for the phone to connect. The phone on the other end started ringing.

"Yes?" The mysterious voice answered

"It's Hamilton."

"Bernitz was able to secure the Harling. Heimorth should be getting Nikanor secured as we speak. We didn't expect a phone call so soon. What do we owe the pleasure?"

"Delivering a warning. One of the Wardog pilots is getting suspicious on how the Yuktobanians knew to go after Harling."

"Which pilot?"

"Jeffery Loomis."

"Don't worry about it right now. He's only grasping at straws."

"What if he keeps being persistent?"

"I said don't worry about it." A hint of annoyance in the man's voice. "We have talked about a contingency if push comes to shove. For right now just leave them be. We will call you and tell you what to do when the time is right."

"Yes sir." Hamilton hung up the phone. Looking through his window he saw a couple of the Wardog pilots playing with Chopper's dog Kirk. 'Only a matter of time Wardog.'

Edge found herself in front of the computer once again trying to find something about Jeff. His dad said that he moved to Usea with his uncle in 2003 and in 2006 moved to Osea. His family didn't know much about his military career and nothing with in the ISAF data base. She then remembered her aunt talking about a group of individuals who escorted them to safety after Mobius 1 took out the fighters so they could safely land. Wonder if she might know. She picked up the phone and started calling.

Ten second later there was an answer.

"Hello?" a groggy voice came through. Kei did a mental calculation and slapped her head realizing what time it was.

"Hey Aunt Sakura. Sorry to wake you forgot you were five hours ahead"

"It's ok Kei. How you doing sweetheart?"

"I'm ok. I was wondering if I could ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"The group of soldiers that came and picked you up after you landed. Did you catch any names?"

"Not really. I was kind of in a panic. Why do you ask?"

Kei's heart sank thinking she would find something.

"Well it's my flight lead. The way he acts and some of the stuff he says makes me think there's more to him than he's letting on. He said he moved to ISAF before the war broke out but I don't know."

"Kei honey Does he keep you safe?"

"Yes ma'am."

"So, don't worry about it. As long as he keeps you safe I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Your right."

"Well I'm going to go back to sleep. Tell your mom and dad hey. Don't worry about it. Love you sweetheart."

"Love you too."

Kei hung up the phone. Maybe her aunt was right. Kei decided she wouldn't worry about it anymore. She laid her head down and went to sleep.

The pilots were aroused bright and early. The sun didn't even crest the horizon yet. They were walking into the briefing room.

"Anyone…." Chopper's sentence was cut off from a yawn. The pilots didn't get a lot of sleep last night thinking they were going to have a day off. "Anyone know what's going on?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Blaze said trying to fix his hair. Kei was trying not to laugh. Jeff looked funny with his hair standing up and poofed out on one side. Grimm came in sat down and put his head in his arms trying to go back to sleep. At that moment, Perrault walked through the door. He started chewing them out for not maintaining military standards and looking like crap. After five minutes of that the briefing started.

"This is it people. Were finally going to take the battle to the Yukes." The obese man said. The pilots sat up straight and were alert like they had just got their second wind. The intel officer stepped in and gave them the situation.

"Word has come from the top to invade Yuktobania. We will have four infantry brigades designated Alpha through Delta. You will be outfitted with SDBs. Two flights of F-15s with the same loadout and other top cover aircraft with multirole ordinance. You will focus on taking out the enemy center" The officer highlighted their objective.

"Sir what about the pillboxes? That's going to pose a problem for our infantry." Jeff asked

"The F-15s will take care of pillboxes. Once the area is secure we will be sending in the A-10s to eliminate the reminisce of ground forces to establish the beachhead."

"And what about enemy air support?" Edge asked

"You will be fitted with two Sidewinders and a full gun. I don't think you will need to worry about it with your skills and all. If you do encounter air support you are free to engage. Any other questions?"

Everyone looked around the room. No one had any more questions.

"All right. Dismissed."

The four pilots stood up and saluted. The went to the locker rooms to suit and prepare for the next mission.

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Hey Guys. Want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Taking a small break during the holidays so I'm posting this chapter. Don't worry I will be posting a new chapter a little bit after the holidays.


	9. Chapter 8- Invasion

Disclaimer- Own nothing

Then- Escorted the President to safety

Now- Invasion of Yuktobania

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Edge looked over to see her flight lead getting ready. She was still trying to figure out who he was. He kept her and the rest of Wardog safe so whatever he was hiding couldn't be bad. He has proven himself that he was a capable pilot and could be trusted. Just who was he really. The way he techniques he used even with the Raptor could only be brought on through years of training and maybe sometime in combat. She continued to watch as her flight lead put on his jacket. It was going to be cold where they were heading. Wardog had a saying 'dress to 'egress' drilled into them.

"Why do we have to invade Yuktobania?" Chopper asked everyone as they were headed out to their planes.

"I know what you mean." Edge said "Doesn't make any sense."

"Doesn't this go against the Presidents anti-war policy that he has been trying to promote?" Grimm added

"Regardless if this makes sense or not or if it goes against the peace policy of the President we still got to go. Our job isn't to ask question. We just get paid to execute." Blaze stated. He didn't like the way the war was headed. It did speak against the peace policy the president was trying to promote. Blaze climbed the ladder and started strapping in. Pops was right behind him.

"You going to bring my baby back in one piece?" Pops asked

"Your baby." Jeff said "She's my baby. Can't believe your trying to get her to cheat on me. I'm the one who drives her." He added with a mocking tone.

"You're not the one who has to fix her when she starts to get beat up Lieutenant." Pops said jokingly. The debate between the pilots and mechanics of whose plane it was goes way back to the earlier days of earlier warfare. The debate was who really owned the plane. Mechanics said it was their plane since they were the ones who made sure it can fly and fight. Pilots would say it was their because mechanics made them airworthy so the pilots had something to fly. The unspoken agreement between the two was when it was in the hangar it was the mechanics plane when it was in the air it was the pilots.

They both just laughed at each other.

"Don't worry Pops." Jeff reassuring the older ace "I'll bring it back in one piece." Pops handed Jeff his helmet and got clear when Jeff finally brought the Raptor to life.

"All right Wardog. Form up and let's go." Blaze commanded. The other three planes slide in position. All four planes gave their planes some gas and starting gaining speed. A few seconds later the Raptors where in the air and headed south toward the Yuktobania mainland. A few hours later they came insight to their destination.

"All right guys here we go! Switch to button 3. Stay frosty guys." Three clicks came back. Jeff reached for a switch and changed his radio frequency so he could communicate with the ground forces. 'Just like old times' he thought remembering his infantry days with ISAF. Every branch liked to poke fun of each other on who was better but when it came to battle it didn't matter if you were the Marines Army Air Force or Navy. You just part of the Osean Defense Force.

"Attention all allied forces. This Wardog Squadron. We are entering the operation area."

"Rodger" A gruff voice came through the radio. Reminded Jeff of the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. "What's your target?"

"Were going after the enemy command center and control towers."

"These fuckers are dug in and making it hard to advance. Were pinned down till we can severe their communications."

"Rodger that." Jeff and the rest of Wardog started pushing further into enemy territory trying to knock out the communication towers.

"Where's Delta Company at?"

"Did those guys push ahead?"

"Eagle flight this is Bravo company. We're taking heavy fire from the bunkers. Cleared to engage."

The F-15s rolled over and got above Bravo Company. There were a few seconds of silence.

"Bravo to Eagle flight direct hit. Nice shot boys!"

Jeff and the rest of Wardog were coming up on the enemy's command and control.

"All right Wardog. Target is coming up. Get ready to engage."

"Archer Roger"

"Chopper Roger"

"Edge Roger"

Through all the rain Blaze could make out the shapes of command positions on top of the plateau. Jeff smiled and shook his head. The bunkers placed there had no cover. The SDBs would act like bunker busters and destroy the hardened fortifications.

"Blaze to Wardog. I'm going after the control tower. Edge I want you to take out everything around it. Chopper and Archer I want you to split up and find other targets. Try to save some bombs if you can so we can help the ground forces."

Clicks came back from the other pilots. Chopper and Archer split off to find other targets. Jeff selected a rack of SDBs and locked on to the tower. If everything went according Jeff would be able to take out the control tower and any commanding officers that were in the bunkers.

"All right Edge let's get to work."

Both pilots staggered their planes a little bit to give the SDBs a staggered drop pattern. They were flying straight and level. When they got on top on their target Blazed and Edge hit the and SDBs dropped from the plane. They waited a couple of seconds then they heard the explosions coming from the ordinance. They pulled away from the explosions.

"Wardog 1 and 2 out" Blaze called letting Chopper and Archer know they could start their bombing run.

"Wardog 3 Roger."

The other 2 F-22s came in fast. Like Edge and Blaze the other 2 pilots staggered their bombing run. Jeff watched as the ventral doors opened and SDBs started dropping from them. The bombs started causing secondary explosions from the outlying bunkers and the motor pool. 'Cutting them off from their only means of escape. Pretty clever' Jeff thought. Even though Chopper was a loud mouth he could his own which was a far cry from the nervous nugget that almost died during their first engagement.

"Wardog 3 and 4 out" Chopper called out

"Good job guys. Let's try and find some other targets to clear a path for the ground forces." Blaze ordered.

Before they could even move one of the ground forces gave them a call

"Wardog this Alpha. We could use some air support and encountering some artillery."

"Wilco. ETA 2 minutes. Archer take out the artillery we will take care of the fighters." Jeff ordered.

"Roger." The three pilots said in unison. Archer broke off to line up with the bombing run. Blaze Edge and Chopper saw the F-4s trying to halt the advance of Alpha Company. All three pilots picked a plane and went after them. Blaze fingers danced on the HOTAS and acquired the F-4 trying to jink him. He fired his guns to make the plane go right and sure enough was in Blaze's missile lock.

"Fox Two" He called out. The missile hit the plane and turned it into a giant fireball.

The other two pilots destroyed the other two fighters and flew top cover to protect Grimm from being bounced. Archer released the last of his SDBs and destroyed the remaining artillery. They heard a call over the radio.

"This is Alpha. Good job. Artillery is knocked out and we can resume our advance. The guys over at Charlie we wondering if you guys still had some bombs. They need help clearing out some bunkers."

"Roger. Wardog to Charlie. On our way to start bombing run."

The pilots came across Charlie Company. The enemy had dug themselves in the hill so it was hard for them to advance. Wardog had formed up and just liked before staggered their bombing run for maximum coverage. Twelve SDBs dropped. After a few seconds, there lots of explosions. Jeff could hear the 'whoops' coming from the Charlie Company.

"Thanks, Wardog."

"No problem guys." Jeff said.

"Wardog 1 to all ground forces how is it looking."

"This is Alpha. We have remnant forces but it's nothing we can't handle."

"This is Bravo. Our advance is proceeding smoothly."

"This is Charlie. We are good to go."

"This is Delta. We're good. Just tell the rest of those slow pokes to hurry up."

Jeff grinned at the comment. He was like that when he was with ISAF. Jeff did a quick scan of the area on his radar. No enemy air support.

"Wardog to Thunderhead. Out of bombs. Permission to RTB?"

"Roger Wardog. Return to base."

"All ground forces this is Wardog checking out. Good luck."

By the time Wardog would have made it back to the battlefield from Sand Island the battle would have been over. A couple hours later the four pilots reached the halfway point with a tanker aircraft waiting to refuel them. Blaze was the last one to refuel. He lined his plane up with the extender and with a nice clunk the extender was in the fuel connector. Soon enough Jeff was refueled and Wardog could make it home.

It was late at night before Wardog made it home. Pops looked over and saw the planes landing and taxiing in their usual hangar. He pulled a removable ladder and headed straight for Blaze's plane.

"Hey Kid. Lemme help you with that." As he grabbed the ace's helmet and started helping the tired pilot unstrap. Jeff really appreciated the help from Pops. He would wonder if Brian and his dad had this kind of relationship with the mechanic crews.

"Thanks Pops." As he stretched his arms and slowly stood.

"At least now you can get some sleep."

"Not quite. We still have to get debriefed by Perrault."

Jeff staggered passed the old ace. The old man watched with concern as Jeff walked away.

'This isn't good.' Pops thought to himself. 'I know they are the best we got right now but if the colonel keeps this up he's going to run them into the ground. They are still human.'

"Now we have a foothold in Yuktobania thanks to your help." The intel officer finished up.

Now with a foothold in Yuktobania this meant that the war was escalating. Jeff knew with the foothold they had it would only be a matter of time before they could take Cinigrad and end the war. Perrault turned in for the night so Hamilton was filling in. Hamilton stood up

"You four should get some rest. We will call you when we need you."

Hamilton turned and left the briefing room. All four bleary eyed pilots were staggering in the halls trying to make it back to their rooms for some much-needed rest.

"Why couldn't they station us on the front lines? This is bullshit." Chopper stated

"I feel you man but they can't." Blaze started "All of our maintenance crews and weapons are here. Also, they don't have a real airstrip for us to land at. If we were flying Harriers or Fulcrums, then maybe. It's just how it is."

"Let me get this straight. You're telling us that we are the first responders to any mission that Command can come up with?" Edge asked trying to wrap her head around the ordeal

"Yahtzee." Jeff said

"They're going to burn us out. We can't operate like that. We have our limits." Grimm cried out

"And until they realize that get used to long flights and little sleep."

"Couldn't they put an aircraft carrier offshore somewhere for us?" Edge asked

"They could but I doubt it. They will claim the ship would get attacked by subs or something. Look let's get some sleep and worry about the rest later. Night guys." Jeff said as he walked into his room

Chopper was awoken by loud knocking on his door.

"Yo Chopper wake up dude. We got a briefing."

Chopper rolled over and saw his clock read 0500. It had only been a day and half since Osea got a foot hold into Yuktobania and he was still tired. The day and half rest that was required that all pilots have after missions still wasn't enough. Chopper groaned realizing that Jeff's predictions were coming true.

"Chopper! Hurry the fuck up! Briefing is in ten minutes."

Chopper could hear Jeff's footsteps walking down the hall. He rolled out of bed putting on his flight suit that he threw on his chair the night before. Jeff made it to the briefing room and sat down. On the table was a sheet of paper. He looked at it and shook his head. The paper had every offensive that the higher-ups in Oured wanted Wardog to hit. Perrault and Hamilton were adamant about hitting every target ASAP.

Nagase entered the room next. She saw the look on Jeff's face and knew he was pissed. He was staring at the top of the table with intensity like he was trying to make it burst into flames.

"Captain?"

There was no response. That didn't surprise her. She knew he was trying to make the best out of a bad situation and trying to figure out the best course of action.

"Captain?" She asked again

He finally broke his trance. "Huh? Hey Edge didn't hear you come in."

"I can see that. Everything ok? You seem kind of tense."

Jeff handed her the paper that he was looking at. "Command is going to run us ragged."

Edge started to read the paper. "What exactly is this?"

"It's our target list for the rest of the war."

"You're kidding?" Edge said shocked "Doesn't look like they plan on having this war last any longer than a couple of months."

Before Jeff could answer Chopper and Grimm walked followed by Perrault. The other two pilots sat down. The intel officer walked in to start their briefing.

"The ground forces would like to send their thanks for your help. The ground forces were able to succeed in their operations and now have a stable forward operating base in the region." The four pilots had smiles and felt proud of the success of their mission. "Now here is your current sit-rep and orders for deployment."

Jeff sat up a little bit more. A map had appeared from the projector. It showed the location of Sand Island and a line jumping to the established beachhead. Twenty miles from the beachhead was a red highlighted area.

"The Yukes have begun a large-scale withdrawal from the area. We believe that a good portion of supplies and troops are being air lifted so they don't fall into Osean hands. A spy within the Yuke army has supplied us with a time and location of one of the convoys leaving the area. Wardog is to splash all the cargo planes."

"You know what type of transports?" Jeff asked

" C-130s or C-5s. We don't know for sure. If at any point, you need to rearm and refuel one of our battalions were able to capture an air base in good condition. They repaired the airstrip and said its operational ready. Any Questions?"

With that the four pilots stood up and headed out to their planes not knowing what was going to await them.


	10. Chapter 9- Unfortunate Events

Disclaimer- I own nothing

Then- Invasion of Yuktobania was a success

Now- Unfounded accusations and escalation

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The F-22s finally made it over the cost of Yuktobania. Timing had to be perfect or Wardog would lose the chance to halt the enemy retreat. Also, it would incur the wrath of the base commander and they would be the subject of constant ridicule, which is something that Jeff was going to avoid.

"Thunderhead, this is Wardog 1, checking in." Blaze said, informing their AWACS that they had made it into operational airspace.

"Roger. Turn to heading 150. Your timing couldn't have been any better. We started to pick up blips on our radar."

"Intel was right for once." Chopper stated.

Jeff couldn't help but smile at the comment. Anybody that has served in the military knew that military intelligence was something to be accepted, nodded at and then thrown away when the intelligence officer wasn't looking. Not that the military intelligence guys don't do their job, it is the simple fact nothing is laid like they say it is most of the time.

"Roger Thunderhead. Wardog will be in the ops area soon." Jeff stated

In just a few short minutes, Wardog made it to Charlie Oscar. Edge was still in awe of the smooth transition from subsonic to supersonic. She looked at her speed indicator it was reading Mach 1.5.

"Thunderhead this is Wardog. We're coming in hot." Blaze announced.

"Roger Wardog. Your cleared to engage all hostile aircraft."

"Wardog engage all hostiles" Blaze repeating the command.

Wardog had formed up and was ready to engage the enemy. They saw the supply planes pop up on their radar. Grimm got everyone on point when he came on the radio.

"This is Archer. Contacts about fifty miles ahead."

"Blaze confirms contacts. You guys ready?" Four prompts 'yes sirs' came back. Hearing that made Blaze proud. The four of them had come far since their first mission. "Roger. Split and engage the enemy. Try and conserve ammo. Intel says this is a massive withdrawal." The group split up with Edge and Blaze going one way and Chopper and Grimm headed another. 'Time for some headhunting' Jeff thought.

"Blaze engaging."

"Edge engaging."

"Chopper engaging."

"Archer engaging."

As they got closer to the targets, blips appeared out of nowhere. The cargo planes they were supposed to shoot down, had turned into twenty plus.

"What the hell!?" Blaze exclaimed, wondering what was going on with his radar.

"Hey, is everyone else's radar on the fritz?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah. There are too many targets on the radar. This doesn't make any sense." Edge stated.

Blaze heard enemy radio chatter coming through the comms.

"Looks like we got company."

"Don't worry about it. Our guys have it covered."

Grimm chimed in when he figured out what was going on.

"They got jammer aircraft."

"That's a relief. Glad some of the returns are ghost. I damn near had a heart attack." Chopper exclaimed

Blaze didn't hesitate. He told Wardog to fly high and search for the E-3 jammer aircraft. All four planes flew up and started searching. After a few minutes of searching, Blaze finally saw a small glint of steel that caught his eye. Jeff didn't say anything but the rest of Wardog followed his lead. They saw the jammer aircraft and one by one they picked a target and engaged.

They had got the E-3s off guard and were able to shoot them down with no problem. With the jammer aircraft gone, the radar cleared up and showed them where their true targets were.

"Now that we got that cleared up. Let's make quick work of the rest of these guys and get home."

"Roger that. "Edge said.

One by one Wardog swooped down and started splashing the cargo planes. Four more blips showed up on the radar.

"Hey guys," Blaze stated, "We got inbounds."

"Just a flight?" Edge asked with skepticism. Was Yuktobania really that shorthanded that they could only send 5 planes to defend their cargo planes.

"Highly doubtful." Blaze said, "I bet you twenty bucks they got more out there. These guys are just scouting the area and just getting a feel for the situation."

Blaze and Edge rejoined the other two of Wardog. Flames shot out all four planes burners and they made way to the enemy flight. As they got closer, Blaze got a lock on the lead plane and let a missile rip through the sky.

"Blaze, Fox Two."

Too Blaze's surprise, the Yuke fighter dropped on his belly and let some balls of light drop from his plane.

"Chaff' Jeff thought. Both flights were now tangled in a dog fight. Both flight where twisting and turning, pulling crushing g's and experience the high and lows of adrenaline.

'This guy is good.' Jeff thought. Every time the enemy jinked, Blaze was right behind him. Finally, Blaze was finally able to get a clean lock. His fingers danced on the HOTAS and let his cannons come to life. He sent the enemy plane spiraling down.

"Could I get a little help please," Edge cried out over the radio.

"On my way. I'll help clear your six." Blaze responded.

The fifth fight had ambushed Edge and was hot on her tail. Blaze sped up to quickly get entangled into another fight. Edge turned to catch the other fighter she was pursuing. The other fighter decided to pull off from hounding her and pulled up. Jeff dint hesitate to follow.

"Archer splash one.

"Woohoo. Chopper splashed another one."

Wardog splashed the remaining hostiles. They quickly formed back up so they could finish downing the rest of the cargo planes. A high pitch squeal hit Jeff's ears.

"Thunderhead, what the hell is going on?" Jeff asked. Thunderhead responded but the transmission was garbled and couldn't be understood. "Thunderhead, I didn't copy. Repeat last transmission."

There was a new voice coming over the comms.

"This is the 8492nd. Commence bombing run on hostile targets."

"ECCM!" Restore communication link!" There was another high-pitched squeal and Thunderhead was finally coming in clear. "Hey! Those guys are attacking a college town full of civilians!"

Jeff felt a chill go down his spine and his blood run cold. "What did you say?"

Thunderhead came across the radio again "All units in Charlie Oscar! Cease your attack immediately!"

"That's right near us." Grimm stated

"That's where the hell we're at. You guys see those idiots anywhere?" Chopper asked

Blaze had the feeling that they shouldn't be here anymore. Mission success or not.

"This is Blaze. We're pulling out of the AO. Set course for friendly territory"

"Kid, are you out of your damn mind!?" Chopper shouted, "We still got targets out there."

Kei was surprised at the frostiness of Jeff's voice when it came back over the radio.

"We are getting the fuck out the AO. Don't question my orders right now. You understand me Lieutenant?"

There was an uneasy silence over the comms. Jeff and Chopper normally got on well. Edge couldn't count how many times she has seen them laughing, joking and just cutting up.

"Thunderhead to Wardog. Did you engage in an attack on a civilian facility?"

"Negative Thunderhead," Jeff said, with frostiness still in his voice, "Why would we do that? Let alone, why would I issue that type of order?"

"Roger. You four downed a significant portion of their forces. Ill log the mission as a success."

There was a long silence as they were flying home. Even Chopper, the most talkative one of the group kept his mouth shut. 'Perrault is going to be pissed' Jeff thought as they were flying home. Jeff didn't realize how pissed he was going to be. Finally, Sand Island was in sight. They called the tower and were giving orders on where to land. The minute the landed and shut down their planes, Jeff soon realized how pissed Perrault was.

"Jeffery Loomis, Kei Nagase, Alvin Davenport, Hans Grimm. You four are under arrest." The Military Police officer stated.

There were no complaint coming from the pilots. Everyone expected something like this when they landed. What wasn't expected was to be held at gun point. Jeff had to keep himself calm and not let his Special Forces Training take over.

"May I ask on what charges?" Jeff asked as he was being relieved of his nine-millimeter pistol.

"For war crimes involving attacks on civilian facilities."

"Are fucking kidding…" Chopper sentence was cut short as he was staring down a barrel of an M-16.

"On what proof do you have that it was us?" Edge asked still not liking the situation they were in.

"I don't need to have proof. All I was told was to arrest you and bring you to Col. Perrault. If you want to claim your innocence, then take it up with him." The MP stated. "We are here to escort you to Perrault's office. Now follow me."

'Fuck me,' Jeff thought. He already knew that Perrault wanted them to be guilty. They finally reached a big wooden door with the name Col. Olsen Perrault engraved on a brass plaque. The MP knocked on the door.

"Enter."

The Four Wings of Sand Island marched into his office. The MP closed the door behind them.

The four pilots sat down at attention. Jeff figured they weren't going to be released from this position anytime soon. 'If he starts making unfounded accusations' Jeff thoughts trailed off into ways he was going to make Perrault suffer.

"So," Perrault's cutting through air and making all day dreaming stop. "What the FUCK where you are thinking?" Slamming his hands on the desk making papers fly everywhere. "Attacking a civilian college." Glaring at Blaze and their gazes met. "Added that into the mission, huh?"

Blaze stood up "Sir, are you accusing us of attacking civilians?" Blaze's tone very lone and dangerous. His comrades knew that it took a lot to piss Jeff off and accusing Jeff and his team of something they didn't do was unacceptable.

"You guys were the only ones in area. Explain it to me Lieutenant. Unless the Air Force fairy came down and bombed the town herself, how could it be anybody but you?"

Edge glanced over at Blaze. His fist clenched and ready to tackle Perrault. "Jeff! Calm down!"

Jeff slowly sank back into his seat, his hands finally relaxing.

"Now that the good Lieutenant has got himself under control. You've been ordered to Oured to appear in military court. You guys will be leaving in two days. Till then, you are confined to quarters and the mess hall. Now get the fuck out of office."

All four pilots hurriedly left his office. Jeff was walking back to his quarters when he noticed to MP's walking behind him.

"Can I help with you something?" Jeff asked.

"We were told to…"

Jeff cut him off" What? Escort me? Well if you're going to be escorting me everywhere, are you going to be holding my dick while I use the bathroom. I mean do I get service with the smile? I don't give a shit what your orders are but you need go fuck off and bug someone else."

Jeff finally made it to his room. 'What a day' Jeff thought to himself. He climbed into his bed and drifted off to sleep so he could try and sleep away this nightmare.

The next day Jeff could make a couple phone calls. First one was to his friend Brian Forrest.

"Hello."

"Hey, Brian. It's me, Jeff. How are you doing buddy?"

"Hey man. It's been a while. What do I owe the pleasure for you to call my work line?"

"I'm in some serious shit. Our last mission, some civilian college town got attacked. It wasn't my flight but since there was no one else there, we look like the guilty party."

"Man, that sucks. You know what's going to happen?"

"We to court tomorrow to plead our case. In case this thing goes south, is there anyway me and my flight could come to Usea and join the Mobius Squadron? I wouldn't ask if I knew what was going to happen but I'm just need some contingencies.

"I understand. Look, if it does go south, then we can come get you and your flight and you can join us."

"Thanks man. Hey, say hey to everyone for me."

"I will."

"Later bro."

'Well at least that's one place we can all go.' Jeff thought. Jeff didn't want to split up Wardog. Jeff really grew to love his flight and if he was going to go anywhere then he wanted to bring them along.

The next phone call was to his dad. He was a General in Ustio Air Force. He told his dad what was going on and was told to keep him posted. 'Well if something happens at least we got options but if we get cleared then nothing changes. With that, Jeff walked back to his room and killed time till he needed to go to bed.


	11. Chapter 10- Accusations

Disclaimer-Same as the past few chapter. I still own nothing

Then- Civilian college attacked, Wardog accused of war crimes

Now- Military court

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The next morning found the four pilots marching to their airplanes. Usually there was laughter and quick, witty banter but not today. The pilots were being escorted to their planes by armed security guards. There was no conversation, only grim faces with worry, anger, and determination. Jeff climbed the ladder to his F-22 with a heavy heart and feeling hopeless since everyone thought they were guilty for the college town attack.

Pops could see the stress on Blaze's face. To be quite honest, Pops was starting to think Jeff was starting to crack. 'These kids need a break.' Pops thought to himself. They were already under enough stress from war. Depending on the board, if they don't go to jail, they will be under close observation which will make it more difficult for them to do their job. The whole situation was jacked up.

Jeff started strapping in like his body was on auto pilot. He was reliving past missions and trying to find some clue about the attack. Everything he kept thinking of made them look guiltier than anything. Blaze didn't notice Pops coming up the ladder as the plane slowly came to life.

"You doing ok Kid?" Pops asked. Jeff jumping at the sound of his voice. Even though Pops had been standing there the entire time, Jeff's mind was elsewhere and wasn't paying attention.

"Huh? Oh, hey Pops, didn't see you there. Wasn't paying attention."

Pops grew stern. "Listen kid," he said loudly and with force. "I know you got a lot on your mind but all this brooding isn't going to get you anywhere. You need to focus because there are many more battles ahead and other people's lives depend on you. Now get your head out your ass."

Pops had never really been the type to shout. Jeff didn't expect to be on the receiving end of it.

"Yes sir." Blaze said, not really knowing what to say to him.

Pops descended the ladder. Jeff closed the cockpit and shook his head. 'Didn't expect that to come from Pops but he is right. I need to get it together' Jeff thought to himself. All four planes were ready and started to taxi on the runway. Blaze frowned at the tower controller, who had a little more than a hint of frostiness in his voice. They got their take off instructions and they were off to meet their judges, jury, and executioners.

Six hours later, Wardog finally made it to Apito Airport. It was the biggest airport in Oured. It was also the closest airport to the White House, Congress and the Pentagon. There were other minor OADF bases around, since Oured was the capitol but they were used for advanced training.

"Wardog flight, Apito tower, cleared for runway 15" Blaze rattled off the instruction, then angled his jet to start heading to the runway. Few minutes later all four planes touched down and parked in one of the hangers. Jeff saw a couple of Black SUVs pull up and guys in black suits get out the vehicles.

'Here comes the goon squad. Money says they are armed.' Jeff thought bitterly. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. 'These guys look CIA. Man, we are so screwed.' Brass was taking the attack seriously. They wanted to know why it happen and who was responsible. It just so happens that Wardog is public enemy number one.

Jeff got on the comms before the other pilots got out the plane. "Guys, I know everyone is under a lot of stress but no funny business. I don't think these guys are the joking type."

"Really, I had no idea, fucking Einstein." Chopper snapped back

Jeff had to let the comment go. It was clear that everyone was tense, maybe more than Jeff was. After all Jeff has been in front of boards before but not one that was hostile as they were going too. Jeff descended the ladder. 'Let's get this over with,' Jeff thought.

The goon squad walked over to the pilots. Big, muscular, the stereotypical bodyguard type.

"Alvin Davenport, Kei Nagase, Hans Grimm, Jeffery Loomis. Follow us please." One of the guards ordered.

They followed the body guards and split the group up. Hans and Jeff went in one car and Kei and Chopper went in another. They got in the car and Jeff heard the guards communicating their movements. Jeff looked over at Grimm who had a panicked expression on his face.

"Relax," Jeff said, "Just tell them exactly what happened. Don't lie. Just tell them truth and everything will be ok." Jeff thought to himself that was the worst advice he had ever given but it seemed to have relaxed Archer a bit. After about twenty minutes they reached their destination. The guards opened their doors to let the pilots out. They were standing in front of fancy hotel.

"This is nice," Grimm said

"No kidding. I'm going to abuse this trip," Chopper stated

"That bed is going to feel good tonight," Edge said

"MPs should be here in about four hours to escort you to the hearing," the guard said

The pilots went inside the hotel. They checked in and got their room keys. They four had taken an elevator to third floor and then continued to find a green and red pattern carpet.

"325…326…327…328…Here we go. This is us." Jeff said. He handed out the key cards and one by one, the four pilots went into their rooms.

Jeff was in awe of the accommodations. Mahogany molding and furniture, king sized bed with green comforter, and a big window with a view. He opened the closet door and hung his bag up there. He unzipped the bag and grabbed his dress uniform. He inspected his shirt from front to back to see if there were any flaws. He did the same thing with his pants. His uniform was in great condition considering it was stuffed in the cargo bay door of his Raptor. He pulled out his and gave them a wipe down and grabbed his that he placed inside his shoes. Everything was flawless. He flopped down on the bed and turned on the T.V.

He was amazed on how soft the bed was.' There not skimping out on anything.' Jeff thought. He figured this was a way to get them to loosen up and let something slip. Jeff glanced up and saw a documentary.

"Aces Through the Ages," the title read. It caught Jeff off guard when they started talking about the fighting style used by his dad 'The Demon Lord of The Round Table.' He saw some of the pilots that he fought against alive and telling them about his experience. Some of them held him in high regard. Then they preceded to talk about MG Brian Forrest aka Mobius One. Jeff laughed when they were talking about how the tactics used to attack Stonehenge was just a coincidence. They weren't too far from the truth. The entire operation was preplanned.

" _Sgt. Loomis. I appreciate you and your team hopping out there but I got to send you back out," Col. Goodfellow told him_

" _What's going on sir?" Jeff asked._

" _After the SAR operations of the Erusia defectors, we need a TAC-Team to go out and verify the intel before we send the pilots. Get cleaned up, re-stocked, eat and briefing is in ten minutes."_

 _Loomis and his squad left in a hurry to prepare for the next mission. Ten minutes later all the soldiers of Jeff's team were assembled in the briefing area._

" _Room atten-tion," the aide called out. Everyone in the room stood at attention._

" _At ease gentleman," Goodfellow said_

 _Everyone sat down._

" _As you can see from the satellite images provided from the defectors, Stonehenge is massive. Your mission is to monitor the activity. You will parachute in about 10 miles out and hike to your position. Once you get to your destination, that's when you'll begin monitoring. You will have a direct link to our intelligence guys and myself. Everything that you will be transmitting will be coming to us in real time. You will have to update everything every hour with check-ins every four. You will be out there for 24 hours. I know this is asking a lot from you."_

" _Will we have any backup?" Jeff asked_

" _Sadly, no. We can't get any teams over here quick enough so you will be on your own."_

" _What about exfil?" one of the soldiers asked._

" _Depending on mission success, you will be picked up directly at Stonehenge or you will have to hike back to the Landing Zone and get picked up."_

' _So, we have no choice but succeed' Jeff thought_

" _Sir, one more question. Who's leading the attack on this?"_

" _Mobius One."_

There was a knock on the door that jolted Blaze out of his stupor. He opened the door and there was the rest of Wardog.

"What's up guys?" Jeff asked in puzzlement.

"Nothing. Just figured we could chill out together for a bit." Edge said

"Yeah, just kind of want to lighten the mood before our impending doom." Chopper chimed in

"Yeah, I'm with them." Grimm said

Jeff grinned and let them through the door. Everyone found a spot and sat down and they just started talking about whatever came to mind. Three hours had flown by and Jeff heard another knock on the door.

"Lt. Loomis?" The gentleman wearing a military dress uniform and MP armband. Another MP standing behind him.

"That would be me. Hear to escort the criminals." Jeff said jokingly

"Yeah that's why we're here but we don't think you guys did that."

"How did you come up with that conclusion?"

"We had some friends that were the spearhead of the invasion. Said you guys were really something. If you haven't done anything wrong then why would you do something wrong now?"

Jeff smiled at the comment. It was good to hear that not everyone was on the guilty bandwagon. One by one Wardog filed out of the room, down the elevator and into the cars. After a few minutes of driving they arrived at the Pentagon and the seriousness of the situation came crashing back like a ton of bricks.

The ascended the stairs and were greeted by an aide wearing an Osean Navy uniform. He brought them to a glass room and got them to sit down. A few minutes later, the aide came back and called the first name.

"2nd Lieutenant Hans Grimm."

"You'll be fine" Jeff said calmly "Just tell them what happened. They can't pin anything on us if our stories match up."

Grimm nodded and got up to follow the aide. He looked like he was about to pass out. The big wooden doors opened and Grimm followed the aide disappearing from the other Wardog pilots. The heard a nice click as the door closed behind them. The other three pilots did what they could to pass the time. Read the out dated magazines, tried to get some sleep but nothing could distract them.

An hour later, the door opened and Grimm came out.

"So?" Chopper asking, "How was it?"

"Brutal and scary," Said Grimm "They were doing anything they could to get something incriminating out of me."

"You got to be kidding me," Jeff said. The other three pilots turned to look at him. "A civilian college town was bombed. Osea wants to get whoever did it so they can say it wasn't on their orders. We just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time."

"1st Lieutenant Alvin Davenport."

Chopper stood and followed the aide.

"How can the pin this on us without evidence?" Edge asked

"They have all the evidence they need," Jeff stated, "Our mission logs show we were in the area."

"What about the tapes from Thunderhead?" Grimm asked

"ECM remembers? Anything they get from the tapes is shaky at best. They could say that the transmission was cleared up in the middle the attack."

Kei bit her lip "We're in a tight spot."

"Blaze nodded, "Yup. There's no way we walk away from this with our dignity intact."

The comment killed any desire for continuing the conversation. Everyone just sat there in silence. An hour had passed and Chopper came out looking frustrated and livid. Before anyone could say anything the called Kei immediately.

'Saving me for last.' Jeff thought 'I'm so fucked.'

The allocated hour had passed and Kei came out looking pale as a ghost. Butterflies had formed in Jeff's stomach. He never got nervous unless it involved him getting in trouble but compared to the trouble he used to get into as a kid, this was on an apocalyptic scale.

"1st Lieutenant Jeffery Loomis."

Blaze stood and followed the marine. He was getting looks from everyone as they were wondering what a mere lieutenant was doing at the Pentagon. The two finally arrived inform of a set of double oak doors.

"They are expecting you."

Jeff raised his arm and knocked loudly on the doors.

"Enter."

Jeff reached down and pulled on the handle to open the door. Jeff walked in and found himself in a big, spacious room where he could hear the echoes of his footsteps. There was a long table with various people sitting at it and in front of them was a podium. Jeff walked up to the podium till he could see everyone in front of him. The man sitting in the middle was Vice President Applerouth.

Giving the men in a room a salute "1st Lieutenant Jeffery Loomis reporting as ordered"

The VP returned the salute and as his dropped, so did Jeff's.

"Lieutenant," He started in a solemn voice, " You know why you are here?"

"Yes sir."

"Then let's begin. General Miles, you can start."

An aide ran and turned on a t.v. The general clicked on the remote.

"Lieutenant, can you tell me what this is please?"

"Sir, it is Wardog's Sit-Rep from our most recent mission."

"Can you tell us what happened."

"Sir, we were told that there was a massive Yuktobania withdrawal after we established a FOB on the Yuktobania coastline. We were told to intercept the cargo planes at 1700 Zulu time." Blaze could see people writing stuff down and comparing notes. "We then proceeded to take out the cargo planes. We ran into three E-3 Sentries that were causing ghosts on our radar. After we shot them down we could proceed to eliminate our intended targets. We were equipped with an air-to-air load out."

"Is it safe to assume that this was a normal mission." Applerouth asked looking down at the ace.

"Yes sir."

"Boring enough for you to launch an attack on a civilian facility."

Rage came across Blaze's face as he once again was being accused of something he didn't do. There was frost in his tone when he spoke again.

"Sir, I have never and would never authorize that type of attack. After we had eliminated a flight of fighters, our comms were jammed. I heard someone come across the radio saying they were from 8492nd, Thunderhead cleared the comms and that's when I found out about the college town."

"8492, 8492, is that all you people have to say? We don't have a unit by that number." General Miles stated

"Admiral Harvey, what do you think?" Applerouth asked.

Admiral? Surprise came across Jeff's face as he had no idea this was a multibranch hearing.

"All the stories check out. There is nothing to suggest that it was Wardog. We do, however, have four people stating something about a squadron using the name 8492. I find them innocent and I would suggest we start considering this rouge squadron as the culprit."

'Holy shit,' Jeff thought, 'Someone is actually taking out side.'

All of sudden another aide burst into the hearing.

"Sir, we got a problem." The aide stated

"What kind of problem?" Applerouth demanded

"There's been an attack on the college town of Bana Sir."

Everyone glanced at each other. Their faces going pale from the news.

The Vice President scratched his head. "It's not threat to Oured, so we will continue this hearing.

"You can't be serious Sir," Jeff stated

"I am being serious. We are going to finish this briefing."

"Sir, its chemical attack." The aide added

Blaze looked over at the Vice President, "You still consider that not a threat?" Jeff paused for a couple seconds then added "Sir?"

The VP looked at Blaze with cold eyes "This your fault for bombing the college town in Yuktobania."

Miles chimed in before any more remarks were made, "We have to deal with this attack immediately."

"There's one more problem," The aide added "Our early warning system picked Yuke fighters crossing our Air Defense Zone and headed straight for Apito Airport."

Harvey looked over at Jeff, "Lieutenant, your planes are parked at Apito?"

Jeff responded, "Yes Sir."

"Take your squadron and get airborne for immediate intercept. I'll call ahead and get your planes armed and refueled."

"Thank you, Sir." Jeff ran off down the hall way to get his squadron and prepare for combat once again.


	12. Chapter 11-Defenders of Apito

Disclaimer- I finally… own nothing

Then – Military court and attacks on Bana and Apito

Now – Apito Airport Defense

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"This is bullshit!" Chopper shouted over the radio. His hands flying over the instrument panel bringing his F-22 to life. Jeff had burst out the doors and told the rest of Wardog what was going on. They had to rush to the hotel, put on their flight suits, then rush to the airport. Luckily, they could drive at top speed and the vehicles they were riding in had sirens.

"Just focus on getting airborne." Blaze said shortly but he had to admit, Chopper was right. It was bullshit. How could the enemy cross our defense grid and make it this far inland? Blaze switched radio frequencies so he could get clearance from the tower.

"Apito Tower, Wardog flight, are we good to go?"

A swift reply came back, "Affirmative Wardog. We've cleared the airspace and halted all ground traffic. You are cleared for the nearest runway and take off."

Blaze clicked his mike and got on the comms. "All right guys, let's get the hell out of here."

"Roger!"

Blaze found the nearest runway and directed his flight toward it. He noticed some C-5 Galaxies parked off the runway as Wardog was getting ready to take off. Blaze rammed the throttle and gained speed and few short seconds his nose was pointing in the air. The rest of Wardog followed suit. All four planes were airborne and all four planes were scanning their radar to find even the slightest blip that didn't belong.

"Tower" Jeff barked, "Where the targets?"

"Uh, Standby." Controller had to check his radar for any approaching Yukes." Got 'em! Four contacts bearing at 080!"

"Roger that."

That was behind him. The flight had to turn around so they could intercept the Yuke fighters in time. In short order, they flight had formed up and were speeding toward the enemy.

"Listen up, Guys," Blaze ordered "We're going into a wall formation so we can hurry and splash these guys before they know what hit them." All four fighters made a single line form left to right. Jeff's fingers danced on the HOTAS, waiting to get a lock to drop an AMRAAM.

"Everybody got a lock?" Jeff asked.

"Roger!"

"All right, Blaze Fox Three!"

"Edge, Fox Three!"

"Archer, Fox Three!"

"Chopper, Fox Three!"

Four missiles dropped from the bellies of the planes and were screaming toward their targets. Wardog flight broke off, trying to see if anyone was coming after them.

A new voice came over the comms with confusion in his voice. "Tower to Wardog. The four-inbounds disappeared from our radar. We are trying to see if something is wrong with the equipment."

"Your equipment it fine. We just hit our targets, that's all but thanks for the heads up." Jeff said. Now, he was wishing one of the retired veterans was there to help them out. Not saying the civilian wasn't paying attention, it would just make their job easier. Jeff had to admit, with no military training, the guy in charge of the tower was able to help them make a proper intercept.

The tower gave an affirmative and started to give instruction to Wardog so they could land. That's when everything turned to chaos.

"Are those…? Holy shit, tanks are coming out of the airplanes!"

The alarmed voice sent the airport in a panic. No one knew what to do since they didn't have the training for this kind of thing. The situation also put Wardog on the attack. Blaze rolled his plane, getting himself ready to destroy the little gray boxes coming from the plane. Wardog didn't have enough missiles to take out all the tanks. Jeff decided to go after the Galaxy. The idea was to hit the fuel cells and cause a big enough explosion to destroy the tanks in the plane and cripple the rest that were coming out.

Blaze's fingers danced on the HOTAS, lining up the green circle on where the fuel would be located. 'Hope this works.' Jeff thought as his fingers squeezed the trigger and hot lead went flying out his cannons. To his surprise, it did. The behemoth plane turned into a massive fireball. Jeff started giving Wardog orders and put them on the offensive. Wardog executed the orders with perfect precision. All four Galaxies were now giant fireballs. Jeff saw some people running on the ground toward the tanks and setting up a defensive position. 'Hey, the guard is here.' Jeff thought

"Wardog. Let's provide air cover for the guard." Jeff said.

Without hesitation, all four planes climbed into the sky, circling around like a mother bird looking after her young. Jeff began wondering how the C-5s made it to Apito without being searched. It made sense, seeing that there was a National Guard Base on it. It also raised the question of who let them park there. Something was wrong and Jeff knew it. For allowing unscheduled transport planes to sit there, someone high up the chain had to authorize it.

The tower cut in with urgency and panic in his voice. "Tower to Wardog! We got more inbounds! Same attack axis as before!"

Chopper was cursing like mad as the four planes headed to the vector. "This is the middle of fucking Osea. How in the hell are these jack holes getting in?"

"I wish I knew," Edge grimly said as she was preparing to launch a missile at the new contacts.

"We can't worry about that now," Jeff cut in, "We got to splash these guys before they make it to the airport or the guardsman are going to an early grave."

Jeff didn't want his suspicions getting out. If they wrong person was listening to the radio, Wardog would be just another casualty of war.

"Yes Sir," Grimm answered. "Archer, Fox Two!" The missile dropped from his plane and flew to his target. A couple seconds later, there was a bright flash of light.

"Archer, Splash One," Chopper cried out as he launched a missile. Edge and Blaze broke off and went higher. They were forcing the enemy to get shot down, merge or dive, in which case Wardog could reverse and get on their tales. Blaze saw an explosion a couple mile out and Edge confirmed her kill. Blaze was uneasy because there was still one more plane out there and he didn't know where.

"Careful guys. There were only three explosions." Blaze said.

All for planes were scanning the skies, trying to find that one plane.

"I'm spiked," Grimm shouted as his warning alarm was going off.

Blaze saw his comrade throwing his jet left and right trying to get the missile lock off him. Blaze was the closest to him.

"Edge, cover Chopper. I'm going to help Grimm."

"Roger! Be careful!"

" Always am." Which was on outright lie. His time being with Special Forces, Jeff was always volunteering to go out on the most dangerous missions. "Hang on Grimm, I'm coming."

Blaze was speeding toward the enemy fighter that was hounding his comrade. He climbed to gain some altitude so he could find his wingman. Two small silhouettes caught his eye and was screaming toward them. Archer was still holding his own but really needed the help.

"I see him Grimm. On my way."

Blaze rolled his plane and got right behind the enemy. Blaze was staying right on the enemy. Keeping up with his movements but Blaze couldn't get a decent lock. 'This guy is good. Feel like I'm dog fighting Pixy right now.' The enemy pilot could keep Jeff at bay and still stay on Grimm's tail. Not too many pilots could do that. The only ones he knew of where his dad, Larry and Brian.

"Grimm, how you are doing bud?"

"Hanging in there. Would really like this guy off my ass though!"

"This guy is keeping ahead of me."

The enemy jinked and Blazed followed. 'This guy is an ace for sure. I haven't had a battle like this since training with Mobius and Galm.' Jeff still remembering how all three of his instructors would hound him during dogfights. 'I need to spook this guy.' Jeff lined his pipper where he thought the cockpit was and fired some hot lead. The plane wobbled as if realizing someone was behind him. Jeff finally got the opening he needed. His next burst pierced through the tail section of the plane causing the engines to catch fire. As the plane dropped, Blaze saw something he thought he would never see. On one of the wings, he saw a single yellow band on the wingtip. 'Was that a yellow?' Jeff thought

"Blaze you still with us?" Grimm asked, "Everyone is calling you but you're not answering."

Jeff still didn't reply still trying to process what he just saw.

"BLAZE!" Edge shouted bringing Jeff out of his stupor.

"Yeah?"

"You all right? You're not answering us."

"I'm good. Status report."

"Everyone is fine. The enemy is in full retreat and the guard guys are rounding up ground forces and taken them to POW facilities."

"Roger. Good job guys. Let's get back on the ground and find out what we're going to be doing next.

"Yes Sir"

A couple hours later, the Wardog pilots found themselves sitting in the same briefing room they were at in the Pentagon. They were waiting for the verdict, sortie debrief and subsequent orders. They were received by General Miles, since the VP had other duties to attend to at the White House.

"Good job Wardog," Miles said gruffly, as the four pilots filed into the and sat across from the General. "You guys know how to get the job done." The General's demeanor had changed from an accusatory and belittling attitude to a light hearted at-a-boy attitude. "Thanks to you four, Apito took minimal damage and the National Guard guys were able to mob up the remaining ground forces.

"What about the enemy air force?" Edge asked

Miles grinned, "In full retreat of what's left of them."

"And the Bana attack?" Jeff asked.

"It's bad. Casualty count is pretty high We got about a few hundred dead, not to mention a couple more thousand that may not survive the next twenty-four hours."

The pilots exchanged solemn looks.

"Good news is that we were able to spread an airborne neutralizing agent and sending the antidote to all the hospitals."

"Any idea who did it?"

"Intel points to a Yuktobanian terrorist cell. You guys can guess what that means."

"Escalation," Grimm murmured.

Troops over in Yuktobania are going to want to raze the country to the ground. The citizens are going to want retribution. Missions going further into Yuktobania will be ordered.

"Can I ask you something Sir?" Blaze asked the General.

"Go ahead."

"How is this possible. A Yuke terrorist cell making it into our country not to mention fighters able to soar over our defense grid. A little to convenient if you ask me."

"You're in the wrong service Loomis," Miles chuckled, "We got enough people here thinking the same way. We got every agency we got looking into this. Now, what you guys really came here for."

All four pilots looked at each other with saddened faces.

"You four are clear. After seeing you four in action, not to mention the amount of fire power came across the border, we realize that we may have an internal problem. We will look into the 8492nd, see what we can find out. Regarding your orders," The General's statement broke the little chatter that pilots had going on "Continue to take the fight to the enemy."

Four happy yes sirs came from the pilots.

An hour later, After the Raptors were airborne Chopper finally cut through the silence.

"That General Miles guy wasn't that bad after all."

"I think he was just trying to save face for treating us like criminals." Grimm stated

"I liked Admiral Harvey. He at least has logic behind his rank." Edge chimed in

"Quit complaining guys," Blaze said," At least we didn't get convicted."

"So, what happens now?" Edge asked.

"Isn't obvious," Chopper said before Blaze could answer, "We go back to Sand Island and listen to that fat commander of ours."

"Awesome," Jeff muttered, "Just what I need. Listening to that dumb mother fucker."

The other three pilots laughed as they continued their journey back home.

It was well into the early morning as the four pilots approached Sand Island. The planes landed and were taxiing in the hangar with none other than Colonel Perrault waiting for them. Jeff sighed as he saw the obese commander there. He took his time going over each shut down process, hoping Perrault would walk away. Perrault continued to stand there tapping his foot, his patience wearing thin. Jeff couldn't delay it anymore, he opened the cockpit and got out.

"Took you long enough Lieutenant." The Colonel snapped.

"I apologize Sir. My plane was sounding a little off during the fight over Apito. Was trying to figure out if I could hear during shut down." Blaze said lying through his teeth.

Pops was a great mechanic. All four planes flew flawlessly because of his expertise. Jeff just needed a good excuse to keep Perrault from blowing a gasket.

"Well doesn't matter. You four got an escort mission in a few hours so get some rest. I'll see you in the briefing room at 0800."

"What!?" the other three pilots asked

"You can't be serious!?" Jeff asked, "We just got back from a mission."

"Well since you guys are back, it's time to put you back to good use."

"Sir, we are not doing that mission." Jeff's tone dangerously low.

"Excuse me Lieutenant. Last I checked not only do I out rank you, I give the orders and I say you're going."

Perrault wanted to play the rank game. 'Fine by me,' Jeff thought. Jeff knew how to play that game too and win.

"Sir, according regulations, all pilots are required to have a day and half of rest after all missions. The regulations also state that if the rest period cannot be given then it is up the squadron leader, which is me, to determine if his flight is unfit to fly. We are to unfit to fly since we've been flying for about ten hours and we did a mission over at Oured. Also, you can give us the day and half rest period we require."

Perrault was ready light Blaze up but Hamilton, who had been standing behind the base commander whispered something in his ear. Perrault let out a 'harrumph' and stormed off.

"I'm sorry Loomis. If I had known he put you on that mission I would have advised him not to do it. We got an escort mission for you in a couple days so try and rest up."

"Thank you, Sir." Jeff saluting the officer.

Hamilton returned the salute and walked off. All four pilots started walking to the barracks so they could get some sleep.

A little in the afternoon Jeff finally woke up. He got dressed and made a phone call to his friend Mobius 1. Jeff asked Brian about any Erusia activity. Brian told him he would look into it. Next, was a phone call to his dad.

"Hello."

"Hey dad. How you are doing?"

"Doing ok. What seems to be the problem?"

Jeff told him everything, hoping to chalk up his suspicions to paranoia.

"I don't know son. Look, I'll do what I can to look into it and let you know."

"Thanks dad. Love you."

"Love you too."

Jeff hung up the phone. He went over to the crew room to see if anyone else was awake. He saw Chopper and Grimm playing chess and Kei writing something in a red book.

"Hey, Kid is up." Chopper said as Jeff walked in the door.

"What's up guys?"

Jeff sat down on the couch and they just started talking. The turned on the T.V. and started watching the news. The ground forces were beating back the Yuktobanian forces and Osea was getting closer and closer to Cinigrad, the capital of Yuktobania. After watching the news, they decided to watch some movies. It was starting to get late and Jeff headed to his room and went to bed.

The next morning, all four pilots went to the hangar to see Pops. He was working on Chopper's Raptor, wiping grease off his hands on a red towel and installing new parts.

"Back from Oured I see," The old ace said, "Don't keep an old man in suspense. How did it go"

All three pilots where telling him what happened at the briefing and the battle over Apito. Pops listened intently. Pops reminded Jeff of a grandpa. Not because of his age but because he listened to what everyone had to say and gave them encouragement when they needed it. The other three pilots decided to go play with Pops dog, Kirk. Jeff had been staring out into space. The older ace started walking toward Jeff.

"Reliving the old days?" Pops voice coming from behind him. Jeff turned around and had a faint smile on his face.

"I haven't had enough air time to relive the old days. Now if this was an Spec Ops unit and you saw me staring into space then I could say yes."

"You got something on your mind? What's going on?"

Pops listened without any interruption as Jeff explained what he saw. There was a moment of silence before Pops spoke.

"You sure you saw a yellow on that fighter?"

"Not enough to give a definite answer but he was good enough to hold me off and stay on Grimm. If I hadn't spooked him with the cannon, he would have bagged Archer."

"You're right when you say that there aren't too many fighter pilots that can do that. Especially someone of your caliber."

"I'm not that good. Yeah I've been trained by three of the greatest pilots that ever existed but I'm not as seasoned."

"Don't sell yourself short. I think you could give all three a run for their money. What about the gun camera footage? You think there is anything there?"

"Not enough to make a case."

"Well that still doesn't explain why a possible Yellow might be in Osea."

"I called General Forrest and he said he would get back to me. Hopefully he finds something out."

Pops just nodded and patted him on the shoulder and walked away. All to soon the day had ended. Everyone went to bed and the next morning, all four pilots were filing into the briefing room. Perrault threw a glare at Blaze and got the briefing underway.

"Now that your back from Oured, its time to get this underway. That's all I have to say to you people.

Jeff rolled his eyes. The intel officer stepped up.

"Your mission is to escort a flight of B-2s to the Sonza region of Yuktobania. They are preparing ship weapons to their frontlines. You need to stop the planes carrying these weapons. They have an extensive Early Warning Network, a hundred miles out. You've been tasked with this specifically because of your planes stealth capabilities."

Edge raised her hand.

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"Even with the Raptors stealth capabilities, we still give off a radar cross section. We won't be entirely invisible."

The officer nodded. "We did take that into consideration. We have another strike package attacking a shipyard where some of their submarines and ships are being built. Both flights will attack simultaneously."

"Which gives us the chance to sneak in while, they are dealing with the other attack." Jeff chimed in.

"That is correct Lieutenant. The bombers are going after the munitions and storage facilities. Are there any questions."

As usual, there were none.

"Good. The B-2s will be flying overhead so all you have to do is launch."

"Yes Sir," Came from the four pilots.

"Col. Perrault?"

"Just get out there and give those dirty Yukes a hard time. If you really are innocent, then show it on the battlefield."

Without dignifying the fat commander, a response, all four aces left the briefing room, with Chopper and Jeff giving the briefing room door the finger when it closed.


	13. Chapter 12- Blind Sided

Disclaimer- Own nothing, blah blah blah

Then- Apito Airport defense and A day of rest

Now- Escorting B-2s to a munitions factory

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"Man, they got us back on the frontlines again," Chopper complaining about the teams' unfortunate luck.

Slowly but surely, Jeff's predictions about the brass running them into the ground were coming true. Not even their 'vacation' didn't help them any since everyone was so wound tight about the hearing. Even with the day and a half off, they still couldn't get enough time to unwind just a bit.

"Hey Chopper. I know you're frustrated but let's keep the comm channel clean for right now, all right man?" Blaze asked trying to get Chopper back under control.

"Yes Sir."

Blaze really didn't mind Chopper's talking at times. Chopper was like the comic relief of the group or the voice that said what everyone was thinking. If Chopper wasn't careful his mouth would get him in trouble with Thunderhead, Hamilton or even Perrault himself.

Tower cut in getting Jeff out of his thoughts. "Tower to Wardog. The B-2s are about 10 minutes out. You might want to go ahead and get in the air so you can make the rendezvous.

"Roger," Blaze answered, "We are cleared then?"

"Yes Sir. See you guys when you get back.

Blaze frowned at the comment. The Tower seemed to think that they would make it back in one piece. It was true that Wardog is a group of gifted pilots but that didn't guarantee that they would come back every time. You could be the best soldier or pilot but you could get hit by a stray bullet or someone get a lucky missile shot. It happened to Jeff on a couple of occasions.

 _Staff Sergeant Jeffery Loomis and his squad of soldiers trekked through the occupied city of San Salvacion. Trying to remain undetected, the goal was to breach their headquarters and take out any command officers and rally the people to their cause. This would give ISAF a better position to launch planes and be able to route the Erusian ground forces._

 _Jeff's team finally breached the building the Erusians were using as a HQ. They took out the officers but not before an alarm was sounded to alert the other enemy soldiers of the breach. Jeff and his team barricaded the doors to slow down the enemy troops, as Jeff got on a loud speaker broadcasting a message to the civilians to pick up arms and liberate themselves from the Erusians._

 _The enemy soldiers finally breached the room and an intense fire fight began. Three hours of intense firefighting and some of the civilians came up from behind and got the Erusian troops to surrender._

"BLAZE!" Edge shouted, jolting him out of his daydream, looking around for targets before realizing he was still in Osean territory.

"Yeah, what's up?"

Jeff really had to stop this in-flight daydreaming. If he wasn't careful he would end up getting himself killed.

"The B-2s are asking if we are ready to go." Edge said softly.

'Jeff spaces out at the weirdest times,' Kei thought to herself, 'Like he's reliving battles from the past or something.' Her Aunt Sakura's words rang through her head telling her to forget about it. Edge would like too but something deep inside her couldn't let it go. Something was going with Jeffery Loomis and Kei was going to find out.

"Yeah," Chopper cut in not missing the chance to mess with Blaze, "What's all that shit you're saying about staying focused on the mission and what not."

Before Jeff could retort one of the B-2 pilots cut in.

"Hawk Flight to Wardog. You guys ready to go or we going to continue to waste time?"

The pilot sounded agitated if Jeff had to guess.

"Sorry Hawk," Blaze apologized, "Got lost in thought. Won't happen again."

"Don't care what you do as long as you four keep our asses safe."

Jeff didn't say anything about the comment the bomber pilot made. Jeff could feel Chopper getting ready to light the pilot up.

"Let's get going."

Clicks came back and eight planes headed across the ocean. The B-2s were in a diamond formation and the Four Wings of Sand Island were in a fingertip formation.

A midair refueling and six hours of flight time, had both flights in range of the target. Both flights saw the coast of Yuktobania. Bomb craters, abandon command tents and bodies that haven't even been recovered yet. Even after Wardog had sunk the Scinfaxi, Yuktobania was still going strong. There was no sign of them slowing down. Osea after taking the Yuktobania coast, kept pushing. The war was either going to bog down or end when Osea takes Cinigrad.

"Hawk 1 to Wardog. We're approaching the target area. You guys ready?"

"Roger, Hawk 1. We will hang back and keep any inbounds from attacking you."

Clicks came back from as the B-2s pulled ahead.

"Wardog. We're going to go after the C-5s once they get airborne."

The B-2s started their bombing run. Explosion after explosion came from the ground below. Whatever wasn't destroyed by the initial bombing run, would more than likely be destroyed by secondary explosions. Blaze saw the AA come to life but it was too late. The B-2s made it out of the area and were heading back to Sand Island.

"IM SPIKED! Wardog, can you see…" The transmission was cut short as the plane turned into a giant fireball

"Wardog to Thunderhead. Hawk 2 is down! You guys see anything!?" Blaze yelled trying to figure out where the missile came from.

"Negative. I don't see anything." Edge said

"Me either." Grimm stated.

"I got two chutes. Looks like both pilots made it." Chopper said.

Jeff sighed with relief.

"Hawk 1, Wardog 1. You need to get your guys out of here fast. Both pilots made it out so hopefully we can get a SAR team out here. We'll provide cover so you can clear the combat area."

The B-2 didn't waste any time. As he started to turn, he suddenly burst into a giant fireball.

"Thunderhead! Where the fuck are they?" Blaze screamed

Thunderhead quickly responded, "The hostiles are about four miles out."

"Fuck. That's inside AIM-9 range. Wardog, form up and intercept the targets. We got to get these guys to stop taking pop shots at us!"

It could've been luck, if one of the missiles missed but to hit two stealth planes from the same distance, that wasn't luck. These pilots were good and whomever they were, they sent chills up Blaze's spine. He finally saw five planes come in to view.

"Weapons free everybody. Pick a target and start shooting," He ordered, "Keep an eye on each other."

Blaze got a good tone on the lead plane.

"Blaze, Fox Two."

He sent the missile screaming through the air, heading straight for his target. The Yuke fighter starting dancing left and right, the did something Jeff never expected. The plane started to climb. The fighter eventually stalled and started to free fall. With the missile unable to counter the sudden change of direction, the missile flew into empty space.

'Oh Shit! We got to get out of here.' Jeff thought. He recognized that move. Brian used that move on him countless times during their training together. Brian told Jeff that it was Yellow Thirteen's signature move and how bad it used to piss Brian off.

'We are not ready to tangle with these guys yet. Sorry guys but we are getting the fuck out of here.' Jeff apologizing.

A group that knows how to do Yellow Thirteen's move, being able to shoot down two stealth bombers, these guys were either Yellows or trained by them. It was quite possible though. During Operation Katina, ISAF intelligence pointed out that Erusians were heading overseas.

"Wardog, we're leaving. The mission has been partially successful. The bombers destroyed their targets but we are going home two planes short. We've done all we can. Time to get the fuck out of here."

"Why? You got to be kidding me! We can take the jokers!" Chopper said with a livid tone is his voice.

"NO!" Blaze shouted

He almost never shouted unless something made him nervous or he was really pissed. These were good to make him run away from a fight, especially knowing the people who trained him.

"Thunderhead activate ECM. We are getting the fuck out of here."

"Roger. ECM activated. Maintain current heading."

"Thanks Thunderhead."

The four planes pushed their planes as hard they could. Jeff kept looking at his radar to see if the enemy was in pursuit. It looked like the enemy bugged out. Ten minutes of silent comms and Kei finally broke the silence.

"Blaze?" her voice soft and inquisitive, "You ok? It was like you panicked back there."

"I did. You see how that guy dodged my missile?"

"Yeah."

"They would have mopped the sky with us. I've only seen that move a documentary about Mobius 1 and he said that move used to piss him off."

"Hold the phone. You telling me that those guys were on par with Mobius 1? The Mobius 1?" Chopper cut in trying to make sense of it all.

"Yeah Chopper. That's exactly what I'm saying."

"IM glad we left then. I really like to stay in the land of the living for a little bit longer. You know, till I get married have a bunch of kids and grow old." Grimm commented adding a little bit of cheer to the conversation.

The four pilots couldn't help but smile at that sentiment. It was something that they all wanted and who wouldn't. They carried the conversation till the got to the tanker for their mid-air refueling.

"You guys are early," They tanker pilot commented, "Hawk flight came through about an hour and a half ago and looked like they were missing a couple planes. Everyone is way ahead of schedule"

"We ran into some tough opponents. Hawk 1 and 2 were shot down." Blaze said.

"Shot down?" The pilot asked with confusion in his voice, "With you four flying escort. How"

"Some mother fucker got lucky." Chopper said anger still in his voice for having to run. He understood the reasoning but still wasn't happy with it.

The rest of refueling had a tense silence as everyone was trying to figure out what happened. Sand Island finally came into view. They got the instructions from the tower and started land. They taxied in their usual spot. Pops was running toward Blaze's plane with a ladder. The canopy opened and there was Pops waiting for him.

"You guys are two hours early. What happened out there?" Pops asked.

Pops looked at Jeff and realized he was scared. Pops was wondering what could scare Jeff.

In a calm voice "We need to talk."

Pops and Jeff walked into the hanger after Jeff finished unstrapping.

"What happened out there?" Pops asked.

Jeff turned and faced him "I think we ran into the Yellows."

"Holy shit. You mean those…"

Jeff nodded, "Yeah. Those Yellows."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, when I did training with Mobius 1 he did this stall move that Yellow Thirteen did. He said Yellow Thirteen was famous for that maneuver. Even if they aren't Yellows, they were trained by them. Not to mention these guys took two Aim-9 shots at stealth bombers and killed them."

"You know why they're here?"

"Not a clue but I intend to find out."

"So why didn't you engage?"

Jeff sighed and looked at Pops, "They would have killed us. I don't think none of us are good enough. Even with all my training, I still don't think I could have taken them. Give us a little more time and I'm sure we can handle them next time they poke around. Besides, the mission was partially successful. We didn't bring back the entire flight but we did manage to destroy all the targets."

"At least something got accomplished."

"Yeah but let me make a couple calls. I'll talk to you later Pops."

Jeff walked out the hangar. He headed back to his barracks so he could shower and change clothes. After he got out the shower and put on some clothes his phone rang. He looked at the caller id. It was Brian Forrest. Jeff answered the phone.

"Hey Jeff, Brian. Look I don't have much time to talk but we think the Yellows might be in Osea.

"Yeah, we had a run in with them today."

"We're going to try and see what we can do from our end but we don't even know why they're there. You need to be careful."

"I will."

"All right bro. Talk to you later."

The phone hung up and Jeff was with his thoughts. Yellow squadron was in Osea and Wardog was their primary target. Jeff's head was swimming with thoughts. He looked out over the ocean. It was time to train Wardog so all four could get ready for the next engagement that had them tangle with the best aces they have ever come across.

The next day had all four pilots suited up and standing in front of their Raptors.

"So, what are we doing?" Grimm asked, still trying to figure out why they were suited up and had no mission.

"Yeah Kid. We could be resting since we don't even know when the next mission will come." Chopper chimed in.

"Look," Blaze started, "After what happened yesterday, we got a long way to go if we are going to survive this war. A little practice couldn't hurt."

Edge broke in, "We could use the practice."

Jeff grinned, "My thoughts exactly. So, let's mount up and get going. Come on Chopper, it'll be fun."

Wardog made their way to the tarmac. They got clearance from the tower. In a few short minutes all four planes were up in the air. The planes were soaring at about ten thousand feet and a few miles out away from the base.

"So how are we supposed to do this Kid?" Chopper asked.

"We are going to dogfight. 1v1,2v1,2v2, anyway we want really." Blaze explained.

"All right. How about me and Kid against Edge and Grimm to start things off?"

"Sure."

"Let's do it," two enthusiastic replies came back.

Jeff and Chopper pulled away from Nagase and Grimm so everyone had room to start fighting.

"I'll start the countdown. 3…2…1…Fight's on!" Jeff yelled.

All four broke and started chasing one another. Chopper was on Nagase's tail and Grimm was on Jeff's. All four planes were screaming in through the air. Grimm was on Jeff's tail before he reversed and was chasing Grimm.

"Shit!" Grimm cried out.

Jeff trying to line up his pipper to get the gun kill. Grimm wasn't stupid. He decided to reverse and turn, forcing Blaze to follow.

"Not bad," Jeff grunted over the radio as his body was taking on a lot of g's. Grimm whipped his Raptor around, shocking him but instinctively pulled up, which caught Grimm off guard. Grimm was in a vulnerable position since he lost sight of his target. Blaze came out of the clouds and surprised the young pilot.

"Guns, guns, guns," Blaze called out.

Grimm turned around and finally saw Blaze behind.

"Knock it off."

"Good job man."

"I'll try and do better next time."

Chopper and Nagase were battling it out. They kept reversing on each other and couldn't get a single lock on one another. Chopper noticed Blaze coming from below and backed off just a bit so Blaze could scare Nagase up to him. Nagase saw Blaze and did exactly what Chopper had predicted. Nagase flew up and Chopper got behind her for the gun kill.

"Good job guys," Jeff praising his squad.

On and on it went. They did everything that they could think of. They even did a three on one fight with Chopper, Edge and Grimm trying to shoot down Jeff. Jeff was hard pressed to win, eventually, Edge was able to shoot down Jeff but not before he took out the other two pilots. A few days had passed with no missions. They did a couple more days of mock dog fighting and used the rest of the time to rest. Even though they were bored, Wardog really enjoyed respite. A couple day later there was a knock-on Jeff's door early in the morning. Jeff opened the door and was surprised to see Hamilton.

"Good morning Sir."

"Lieutenant, there's a mission for you. Get your squad ready."

Jeff shook his head and closed the door. He put on his flight suit then went to the other pilot's room and told what was going. All four pilots went in the briefing. Silence. No one was in the briefing room except them. As they were patiently waiting, Edge started writing something in a book with a red cover.

"I can't remember this verse," Edge said.

"Let me see," Chopper grabbing the book from her.

Edge started reciting the pages from the book.

"Razgriz. The demon of Razgriz got her right?" Chopper asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jeff asked.

The other three pilots told them about the story of Razgriz. First, Razgriz appears as a demon bringing destruction throughout the land. Then he dies and slumbers for some time. When he awakens, the people revere him as a hero. As the pilots were telling Jeff the story, Hamilton, Perrault and another unknown man came into the room.

Before Perrault could even greet him pilots the intel officer cut in.

"Colonel, I am the advisor from HQ and I would like to explain the situation myself."

Perrault nodded and the display of sit-rep map was displayed. There were no mountains or deserts. It was a body of ice and water.

"The Osean army is planning a large offensive. However, the Yuktobanians have attacked our beachhead with ballistic missiles from the Hrimfaxi, a submersible carrier stationed in the icy waters of Razgriz Straight."

"What the fuck," Chopper groaned saying what the other three Wardog pilots were thinking.

"My thoughts exactly. Coincidently enough, At the time of the army's attack, the Hrimfaxi will have to surface to restock its missiles. At that exact moment, you will ingress at low altitude to avoid detection, launch a surprise attack, and sink the Hrimfaxi. Once surfaced, it only takes the Hrimfaxi one minute to rig for an emergency dive. If your approach is detected, you will only have one minute to complete your attack on the Hrimfaxi. Since you guys have the most experience, you guys were selected for this mission. Are there any questions?"

As usual, there were none.

"I can't stress enough the importance of this mission."

With those words, the four pilots ran down the halls to gear up for the battle ahead.


	14. Chapter 13- The White Whale

Disclaimer- Wish I owned the rights but alas, I do not

Then- Yellows appear and Wardog Trains

Now- Sinking the Hrimfaxi

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Is this really going to work?" Edge asked.

"Yeah. This is crazy." Grimm added

"Hey Kid, I mean you couldn't come up with anything else?" Chopper asked.

Jeff's plan for sinking the Hrimfaxi involved them being equipped with JDAMs and bombing the sub. The goal was to punch a hole through the hull of the sub and then use the remaining munitions to destroy the inside of the ship.

"Unless someone has a better idea, this is all we got." Jeff said, "Believe me, I am open to suggestions."

The rest of Wardog was silent. All the pilots did their checklist and were getting ready to go. Pops ascended the ladder and gave Jeff his helmet. Jeff looked at Pops who had a disgruntled look on his face.

"Come on Pops, let's hear it."

"Your plan is all kinds of fucked up. You know the risks you're taking?"

"Yeah, I know the risks but you got a better idea?"

"Not really," Pops said, "You just better make it back."

"How about this Pops. When we make it back, we will have a party and I'll take care your tab at the O' Club."

Jeff smiled at him and closed the canopy. Pops descended the ladder. The Raptor engines started to whine before going into a deep roar. Jeff gave the mechanic a thumbs up and started taxiing to the runway. The other three Wardog pilots soon followed. The got clearance from the tower and one by one, the four planes went into the dark sky. The sun hadn't start to rise yet.

Hours later, the pilots found themselves with a tanker coming into view. The sun started to rise over the horizon so it was easy for them to find the boom. Mid-air refueling was dangerous enough during the day and easy to do but at night it was much more difficult. One slip up and the tanker and the plane trying to get fuel could end up bursting into flames. After getting topped off, the pilots continued to fly up north. The planes were also fitted with drop tanks to keep refueling to minimum.

The pilots starting bantering with one another to try and pass the time and to relieve the boredom of the hours of flying. Edge, Chopper and Grimm were talking about the Legend of Razgriz, since they were over the Razgriz Straights. They started to get close to the target when Blaze cut in.

"Hey guys, don't mean to cut you off but we are getting close to the target area. Go ahead and start diving to 1000 feet. Once we get at that altitude go ahead and drop the tanks. Everybody ready?"

Clicks came back and they all started to make their way to 1000 feet. They checked their systems and made sure that their TOT was still green. In a few short minutes, Osea was about to start their assault to drive Yuktobania back to Cinigrad. They dropped their tanks and started speeding toward the target. A few short minutes, they heard a familiar voice.

"Wardog, this is Thunderhead. You are approaching the submarine ring. Standby and go to radio silence."

"I guess I'll try talking to myself," Chopper said.

Blaze rolled his eyes and smiled. There was a burst of static and all communication **s** had gone silent. They only thing that could be heard was the whine from the plane engines. Blaze looked out the canopy and could see the ice and water. After hearing the stories about Razgriz, Jeff started thinking about the demon rising out the water and Wardog having to destroy him.

Blaze looked down at his radar and saw the ring of subs. He found the gap and hoped it was wide enough for them to slip through unnoticed. 'God, I hope this works,' Jeff thought to himself. As they passed through the gap, Thunderhead came over the radio.

"This is the Advisor from HQ. We just detected traffic coming from the picket subs to the Hrimfaxi. She's going to dive."

Chopper came on the radio happy as ever, "Our cover is blown so I'm going to start talking now."

Blaze started issuing orders, "Guys, full throttle. Get ready to bomb the shit out of it."

All four planes hit the throttle and lit the afterburners. Blaze was hearing the enemy radio traffic coming through his headset. They only had 30 seconds before they lost their chance to sink 'Moby Dick.' The sub came into view and Wardog had little precious time to try and damage the Hrimfaxi. Blaze flew low so he could get close to the sub and damage it before it dove. He was hearing the cries of his comrades, since they were above him ready to drop bombs. Blaze lined up his pipper up with the sub. Everything seemed to slow down as he was getting ready to drop his bomb.

"Blaze, Pickle!"

Blaze dropped his bomb and pulled up as hard as he could. There were some explosions but Blaze wasn't sure how much damage his suicide run had done. He heard the other pilots screaming at him over the mike.

"Kid, you all right."

"Blaze!"

"Captain?"

Blaze flew back up to join his squadron.

"Guys, I'm good," Blaze said.

They were asking him all sorts of questions. They were really concerned about what their flight lead was thinking. Blaze stopped them from asking questions and got them to focus on the mission.

"Focus on the mission. The sub isn't destroyed. I think I managed to damage it a bit though."

The Hrimfaxi was still able to dive under the water. Blaze flew up and joined the rest of his squad. They were circling around, waiting for the submarine to came back up and break the surface. Blaze was wondering if he did enough damage to the sub. All four planes were scanning the water wondering where the behemoth was. Edge caught something out of the corner of her eye.

"I see an antenna coming out the water," she said over the comms.

Grimm came across the comms, "Hey guys. They just launched some carrier drones."

"Really? You have got to be kidding me." Blaze stated.

The UAVs were a good piece of machinery for the modern age. Without extra parts or a cockpit weighing them down, they can make tighter turns and do things that a human pilot can't physically do. The drawback is that the operator can only see what they camera is shown, which makes it vulnerable to certain attacks depending on where the camera is situated.

The flight of drones split up and each of the Wardog pilots picked a target. The operator for the drone was good but Jeff wasn't about his training go to waste. He was staying on the drone not letting it out of his site. He decided to get below the drone. He finally saw where the camera was and now he could come up with a battle plan.

"Blaze to Wardog. The cameras are on the bottom. Go high then come down up on them."

Blaze backed off the UCAV and pulled up. He saw the drone weaving around looking for him. Jeff switched to guns since a missile would tip off the drone operator. Jeff waited for a couple seconds, lined up his pipper and let the cannons come to life. Bullets ripped through drone. With his drone down Jeff looked to see how the rest of his flight was doing. Jeff was impressed to see the tree manned planes hound the drones relentlessly, allowing little time for the operators to recover.

Edge dove on top of the drone, then pulled up, trying to get to a higher altitude. She didn't quite make it and the drone got behind her. Now she was on the defensive, doing everything in her power to lose the UAV.

"Dammit!" she yelled, "This thing is really glued to me.

Blaze rammed the throttle, so he could catch up to her.

"Hang on Edge. I'm coming." Jeff said reassuringly as he got a lock on the drone ready to send a missile.

The drone dove suddenly, heading to the dark ocean. Jeff was in hot pursuit determined to keep the drone in front of him where he belonged. 'I refuse to get shot down by some child's RC toy.' Jeff thought.

The two planes rolled, and Jeff caught a glimpse of Edge, following the two. It was either to provide Blaze with backup or to keep a look out for the sub that has yet to surface or launch a missile. In midst of the dog fight, Blaze couldn't help but wonder why no missiles were being fired. Drones were always replaceable but with Wardog below 5000 feet fighting them, a burst missile could kill them right now. He could only hope that the bomb did enough damage.

Tracers lit up the sky, but it wasn't blaze who was doing the firing. Jeff looked around and saw Edge getting up on his left wing.

"It was a clean shot," she said sarcastically.

Jeff smiled behind his mask, "Splash one for Edge. Grimm, Chopper, how you guys doing?"

He looked over and saw two fireballs and two Raptors coming toward him.

"Doing pretty good," Grimm said cheerfully as he and Chopper got back in formation.

All four planes climbed above 5000 feet, so the Hrimfaxi couldn't shoot them down. A pillow of smoke came from the water. 'This is going to be a little bumpy' Jeff thought as he waited for the missile to burst underneath him. Wardog waited for 15 seconds and were confused as to why there was no explosion.

A hostile voice came over the radio, "What are you guys doing!? The troops on the ground just took a burst missile. Hurry up and sink the god damn sub!"

"I would really love to sink the sub right now, but it dove," Jeff replied

"IT DID WHAT!?"

"Look man," Chopper cut in before Jeff replied, "Kid did some fancy maneuver and managed to do some damage to it."

"I understand but the sub will slip away underneath the ice if we don't attack now!"

"Like I stated before, the sub dove and there is not much we can do." Jeff said

Edge chimed in, "I see something coming out of the water. It looks like the sub."

"Launching Burst Missile," Thunderhead called out.

All four planes climbed and got above 5000 feet. After the missile burst, it was going to be now or never. Blaze started giving them commands.

"All right Wardog. After the missile does its burst, were going in hard. Hit whatever looks good. We need to do as much damage to this thing as possible."

Three clicks came back followed by an explosion rocking their planes.

"We're going in."

All four planes dove and went screaming toward the Hrimfaxi. Each plane was staggered so the bombs could get maximum damage. Blaze lined up the target and hit a button. Tons of weight came off the planes, as all four planes what seemed like simultaneously dropped their bombs. All four pilots pulled back on their sticks and began to climb as to get above 5000 feet. The planes were finally able to level off and could look at the damage they caused.

"Hrimfaxi, we need another burst missile."

There was a solemn voice over the radio, probably the ships CO, "We can't. we took to much damage and the sub is sinking."

"Wait! What!? What do you mean?"

"We are taking heavy amounts of water. I already initiated the alarm to abandon ship."

"Who did this?"

"The squadron from Sand Island. I think they were the same guys that sank the Scinfaxi too."

"Good luck. Your actions will not be forgotten."

"I guess they were the Demons of Razgriz, not us."

Blaze got on the comms, "Blaze to Thunderhead."

"Go ahead Wardog." Anticipation in his voice.

"Inform Sand Island and the higher ups that we sunk the Hrimfaxi."

"Yes sir."

The four planes set a course to start heading home, leaving behind the glacier filled ocean behind them. It seemed to take forever to get back to Sand Island. Since they didn't have the drop tanks, they had to refuel a couple hours leaving the Razgriz Straights and then again four hours out from the island. Soon the island came into view. Before landing, they decided to do victory rolls over the island. As the planes were being taxied, they were greeted by cheers from a horde of base personnel. Pops ran up the ladder to greet Loomis as soon as the canopy opened.

"You crazy son of a bitch," Pops said smiling, "Remind me to never doubt you again."

"You know it. Told you everything would be all right."

Pops helped Jeff get out the cockpit. As Jeff descended the ladder, he was hoisted up by all the base personnel along with Edge, Grimm and Chopper.

The flight went to their rooms to get cleaned up. Jeff enjoyed the nice hot shower. After he was down showering, he put on his clothes and headed down the hall to get the others. All four started heading to the O' Club.

The O' Club was a very extravagant building. Mahogany base boards and trim, pictures of notable pilots who had been stationed at Sand Island along with pictures of graduating classes, gentle lighting, checkered tile flooring, and in a corner, stood a monument shaped like a F-15, with dog tags hanging from it. Every person on base, from airmen to Colonel Perrault himself, understood the importance of the monument. It was a tribute to every KIA or MIA that came from Sand Island.

The minute Wardog walked through the door, they were grabbed by some of the soldiers and plucked into a booth. When everyone finally had a shot of their favorite drink in their hand, of the soldiers raised his hands to get everyone silent and announced,

"To Lieutenant Loomis and Wardog Squadron. The best fighter pilots to fly the skies!"

A loud cheer followed, and everyone took their shots. Jeff asked the other three what the wanted to drink and order 4 Jager bombs. Jeff saw Pops sitting in the corner and yelled

"Your tab is on me."

Pops raised his class in recognition. It was a wild and fun night that lasted well past midnight. The four pilots drinking heavily, with Jeff being careful not to slip up about his experiences. Edge got buzzed, which made Jeff laugh because to him, she didn't see like someone who would drink. Chopper and Grimm on the other hand, were hammered and they reminded Jeff of his Special Ops buddies back in Usea and Ustio. As the party was winding down, everyone was heading home or back to the barracks. Jeff finally made it to his room and told his squad good night. He went to bed feeling good and knowing the fact that hiding here in Osea wasn't such a bad thing after all.


End file.
